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Before Michael Phelps, There Was Charles Daniels

(09/20/17 10:00pm)

NEW YORK (SI) — If anyone deserves his spot on the Wheaties box, it’s the Olympic champion Michael Phelps. He’s the most decorated Olympian ever, having set world records in four consecutive Games. Though his specialty is the butterfly, he took to the front crawl for his race with a great white shark, which was televised July 24 on the Discovery Channel. But the ubiquitous stroke known as freestyle wasn’t used professionally until another American champion perfected it: Charles Meldrum Daniels of New York, born 100 years and three months before the Baltimore Bullet. Daniels developed the stroke from the old-school “trudgen,” an unwieldy combination of a one-sided overhead stroke and a scissor kick. He replaced it with a six-beat flutter kick and a continuous stroke pattern. English gentlemen, who had dominated the sport since the 1800s, considered the front crawl to be barbaric and “un-European,” and continued to swim only the breaststroke in competition. That is, until Daniels started beating everyone in the pool. He went abroad to England in 1905, a year after his Olympic debut in St. Louis, to swim against the best British swimmers in their home waters. He came home undefeated. “In five years Daniels has lifted American swimming from the rut in which it lay and placed it on par with other nations,” wrote Daniels’s trainer in the Pittsburgh Press after he won the 100-meter freestyle in the 1908 London Games. But Daniels did more than put the U.S. on par—he made it a powerhouse. He is the reason why swimmers now use the American crawl during freestyle events. Daniels was born in 1885 in Dayton, Ohio, and moved to New York City as a young child. He learned how to swim at age 12. He joined the New York Athletic Club and was introduced to competitive swimming. At 19, Daniels became the first American to win an Olympic medal in swimming, which he did in St. Louis on Sept. 5, 1904. It was a silver medal in the men’s 100-yard freestyle, held in a man-made lake in the heart of the city. Over his career, he won eight Olympic medals: three golds, a silver and a bronze in St. Louis, a gold in Athens in 1906, and a gold and a bronze in London in 1908. This eight-medal total was an Olympic record that stood until the 1972 Games in Munich, when American swimmer Mark Spitz broke it. Spitz also won seven gold medals in that Olympics, another record that stood until Phelps won eight in the 2008 Beijing Games. At one point in 1911, Daniels held world freestyle records at every distance from 25 yards to one mile. He posted 14 world records within a period of four days in 1905. “I am going to stop racing after this spring,” he told the San Francisco Call in 1911, reflecting on his career. “Understand, after I retire—if there are life preservers enough to go around, I shall simply crawl into one and float until some kind-hearted soul picks me up. No, siree; I won’t even swim ashore.” Daniels became a squash and bridge champion at the New York Athletic Club. The year after his retirement, he purchased 5,000 acres of land in the Adirondacks, New York, with his wife, Florence Goodyear, an heiress to a vast timber fortune. Daniels built a 9-hole golf course on his estate called Sabattis Park. The course entertained some noted players, who spent their summers on the property. (Phelps is also an amateur golfer. He holed a 159-foot putt at the Dunhill Links in 2012 in what is thought to be the longest televised putt ever.) Despite his pledge not to race again, Daniels continued to swim on the lake beside his golf course. He was an early riser and made a ritual out of his morning workouts. He would swim two miles across Bear Pond and have a servant meet him with hot coffee and that day’s New York Tribune. When he retired, Daniels wanted to be remembered for something other than his swimming. Along with his wife, Daniels founded Tarnedge Foxes, the oldest silver fox ranch in the U.S. Daniels was also an avid hunter, finding game in Mexico and on African safaris. He filled an entire trophy room in his mansion with huge animal heads, including rhinoceros and water buffalo. To this day, several original buildings remain on the property, which is now a wilderness camp for the Boy Scouts. The mansion was torn down in 1973. The animal heads still hang in a big red barn. Daniels moved to California in 1943, where he made headlines working as a swim instructor for the Army during World War II. He disappeared from the swimming world for a number of years. When he was inducted into the first class of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1965, no one knew where he was. Daniels resurfaced in 1972, but had gone nearly blind. He died the next year in Carmel Valley Village, California. “There seem to be rhythm and music and poetry in his swimming,” wrote the San Francisco Call in 1911. The quote was describing Daniels, but anyone who remembers Phelps barreling down his lane in Beijing or London or Rio de Janiero could say the same. Perhaps in Phelps, we see that a part of Daniels still lives on. That, through the beat of his flutter kick, he simply became music.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/09/before-michael-phelps-there-was-charles-daniels

Open Letter to President Patton

(05/04/17 2:00am)

Dear Dr. Patton: We write to protest the Middlebury administration’s punitive response to students involved in the events surrounding the Charles Murray lecture on March 2, 2017. Middlebury students have reported being placed on probation and having disciplinary letters added to their files for protesting both the lecture and also the fact that the college gave its imprimatur to the event by having faculty and administration introduce and preside over it. Additionally, we are concerned that the administration has taken or plans to take other more serious disciplinary actions. As academics who value maintaining college campuses as spaces that encourage critical thinking and that serve as welcoming and democratic spaces for all, we write in support of these students. We exhort you to proceed with a keen sense of their well-being, and their right to participate in protests for social justice, in a long tradition that includes Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Senator Bernie Sanders. Charles Murray is a widely discredited scholar who masks racist ideas under a veneer of respectability. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Murray as a “white nationalist” who is fond of “using racist pseudoscience and misleading statistics to argue that social inequality is caused by the genetic inferiority of the black and Latino communities, women and the poor.” A well-known provocateur, he has a long history of coming to college campuses to create turmoil and foment hatred. Because his dangerous ideas are so well known, 450 Middlebury alumni signed an open letter, published in the student paper the day prior to his lecture, protesting the event. Alumni described his invitation to campus not as “an educational opportunity, but a threat.” We join these alumni in their dismay. Indeed, our own is compounded by the fact that the administration disregarded alumni, some faculty members’, and students’ clear message that Murray’s appearance was not an occasion for dialogue and free speech, but for fanning the flames of racism during a tense time in the United States, when hate crimes are on the rise. We are aware that the protesting students, many of whom are now being disciplined by the college, possibly acted in contravention of college rules. We are also aware of the different reports of what happened after the lecture as Murray and Middlebury faculty member Allison Stanger were departing the hall. Competing versions of what transpired at the protests exist--whether any violence that might have occurred was accidental or deliberate; whether it was initiated by students, security, or other parties. This uncertainty does not negate basic facts—students have a right to reasonable protest; and protest by its very nature is a challenge to an authority that refuses to listen. We believe the administration must take responsibility for what ensued during Murray’s visit, which was sorely mishandled. In his thoughtful public apology to colleagues and the Middlebury community, especially people of color, Prof. Bert Johnson, the Chair of the Political Science Department, recognized mistakes in his decision-making and expressed regret that his agreement to co-sponsor the Murray lecture “contributed to a feeling of voicelessness that many already experience on this campus.” We note that to date the administration has issued no such apology to those at Middlebury adversely affected by Murray’s college-sanctioned visit, even as an apology has been tendered to Charles Murray and Allison Stanger. As Prof. Johnson’s words suggest, the responsibility for what happened at Middlebury cannot be placed exclusively or even primarily on the shoulders of students who are now being disciplined. The administration, faculty and other members of the college community who invited, enabled, and formally welcomed so dangerous a figure as Murray in full knowledge of his history bear responsibility, as does the Middlebury administration for then overriding objections leading up to his lecture, and disrespecting students’, faculty, and alumni concerns. Dr. Patton, we ask you to consider this: when Charles Murray was in high school, indeed only a couple of years younger than the Middlebury students being disciplined, and as the Civil Rights Movement was getting underway, he burned a cross, and then claimed not to know the true meaning of his action (NYT). The scholarship he has since produced continues to breed hate and prejudice. Why would Middlebury choose to enable such a man, and the specious “scholarship” and narratives he propagates, rather than nurture the spirit of students who stand against racism? To punish students and to defend Murray is to degrade the meaning of academic freedom and free speech. Instead, we hope that you might make of this occasion one that can foster critical thinking and reflection in an environment that is safe for all students and members of the Middlebury community, including those who are the most vulnerable. Rather than disciplining students in ways that might prove permanently damaging, we urge you to take this an opportunity for learning, not just for the students but, indeed, for the whole college community. Respectfully, Cynthia Franklin, University of Hawai'i David Palumbo-Liu, Stanford U David Lloyd, University of California, Riverside Neferti Tadiar, Barnard College, Columbia University Ebony Coletu, Pennsylvania State University David Shorter, UCLA Naoko Shibusawa, Brown University Jean M. O'Brien, University of Minnesota Cheryl Naruse, University of Dayton Andrea Hairston, Smith College Yumna Siddiqi, Middlebury College Adam Miyashiro, Stockton University Kevin P. Murphy, University of Minnesota Timothy J. Reiss, Professor Emeritus, New York University Darwin Tsen, Penn State Ian Balfour, York University Bill V. Mullen Purdue University Salah D. Hassan, Michigan State University Laura Lyons, University of Hawai'i Dr. Aaron Hostetter, Rutgers University-Camden Aren Aizura, University of Minnesota Yogita Goyal, UCLA Sony Coranez Bolton, Middlebury College Maria Bates, Pierce College Anthony Alessandrini, City University of New York Jacqueline Shea Murphy, UC Riverside, Associate Professor Jesse Knutson University of Hawaii, Mānoa Lisa Kahaleole Hall, Wells College Jih-Fei Cheng, Assistant Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Scripps College Hassan Melehy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Shanté Paradigm Smalls, PhD, St. John's University Karma R. Chavez, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, University of Texas at Austin Kevin Black, Boston University Mikaila Mariel Lemonik Arthur, Rhode Island College Cynthia Wu, SUNY at Buffalo Alex Lubin, University of New Mexico Emily Raymundo '10, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Southern California Laila Farah, DePaul University Alvin L.J. Kim, UPenn Naomi Schiler, Brooklyn College, CUNY Lyndsie Schultz, Washington University in St. Louis Mimi Thi Nguyen, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Rei Terada, Professor of Comparative Literature, UC Irvine Rebecca E Karl, NYU, History Jigna Desai, Univ. of Minnesota Lara Langer Cohen, Swarthmore College Greta LaFleur, Yale University J. Kehaulani Kauanui, Wesleyan University Cathy Arellano, American River College Cristina Bacchilega, University of Hawai'i Lucas Klein, University of Hong Kong (Middlebury graduate, class of 2000) Lisa Moore, St. Olaf College Craig Willse, George Mason University Scott Anderson St. Olaf College Monica Zikpi, University of Oregon John David Zuern, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Tom Sarmiento, Kansas State University Sunaina Maira, UC Davis Mari Yoshihara, University of Hawaii Paul Lyons, University of hawaii Rabab Abdulhadi, San Francisco State University Roy Perez, Willamette University Kimberly Drake, Scripps College Rachel Cloud Dr. Stephanie Han Hawaii Pacific University Hosam Aboul-Ela, University of Houston S. Shankar, University of Hawai‘i Dr. Rashmi Varma, University of Warwick, UK Zach Schwartz-Weinstein, Independent Scholar. S. Heijin Lee, New York University Elaine Freedgood, NYU Susana Loza, Hampshire College Fabio Lanza, university of Arizona Rebecca Hill, Kennesaw State University Shamita Das Dasgupta, Rtd. NYU Law School. Lisa Makman, University of Michigan Naomi Paik, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Poulomi Saha, UC-Berkeley Oscar V. Campomanes, Ateneo de Manila, Philippines Bret Benjamin, Associate Professor, University at Albany SUNY David Zellmer, LMSW, University of Michigan Timothy Brennan, University of Minnesota Moustafa Bayoumi, CUNY Brooklyn College Dawn Kaczmar, PhD Candidate in English at University of Michigan Andrew Urban, Rutgers University Masumi Hayashi-Smith, Holy Names University Kristina Johansson Peggy Luhrs, Institute for Social Ecology Jordan Alexander Stein, Fordham University Anson Koch-Rein, Grinnell College Sarah Melton, Boston College Willa Cowan-Essig, SUNY Barbara Ofosu-Somuah Mazin Qumsiyeh, Professor (previously Yale, now Bethlehem) Nalini Iyer, Seattle University Miranda Joseph, University of Arizona Andrew Paul Gutierrez, Emeritus Professor, UC Berkeley Dr. Hatem Bazian, UC Berkeley John Rieder, University of Hawaii at Manoa 100. Anu Biswas, Middlebury College class of 2016 101. Monisha Das Gupta, University of Hawaii at Manoa 102. Todd Essig, Ph.D., William Alanson White Institute 103. S. Charusheela, University of Washington, Bothell 104. Steven Salaita, American University of Beirut 105. Betty Joseph, Rice University 106. Barbara Foley, Rutgers University-Newark 107. Anushiya Ramaswamy, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 108. Piya Chatterjee, Scripps College 109. Leora Mosman, Student - Saint Mary's College of California 110. Tamara Vatnick, Middlebury College '07 111. Sonora Jha, Seattle University 112. Ketu H Katrak University of California, Irvine 113. Bonnie Zare, University of Wyoming 114. Ioana Luca, NTNU 115. Sarita See, U of California Riverside 116. Dr. Iokepa Casumbal-Salazar, UCLA 117. Richard Cullen Rath, University of Hawaiʿi at Mānoa 118. Jordy Rosenberg University of Massachusetts 119. Yi-Chun Tricia Lin, Southern Connecticut State University 120. P J Thomas , S B College , M G University, Kerala India 121. Heidi Howkins Lockwood, Yale PhD '09, SCSU faculty 122. Lisa King, University of Tennessee 123. Colin Dayan, Vanderbilt University 124. Kate Beutner, U of Hawaii 125. Hayle Meyerhoff, Haverford College 126. Julia Pike, Amherst College 127. Kelley Baumann, Amherst College 128. Bobby Shogren, Amherst College 129. Elizabeth Dunn, Middlebury College 130. Esperanza Chairez, Amherst College 131. Bryan Doniger, Amherst College 132. Phoebe Chatfield, Yale University 133. Rachel Cohen, Amherst College 134. Peggy K. Takahashi, University of San Francisco 135. Estelle Lopez, Southern Connecticut State University 136. Charlotte Rosen, Northwestern University 137. Anthony Granite, NMSU 138. Molly Stuart, San Francisco State University 139. Kevin Walters 140. Michael Hisry, Borough of Manhattan Community College 141. Martin Man, Yale University 142. Emma Broder, Wesleyan University 143. Ann Heppermann, Sarah Lawrence College 144. Andrew Drinkwater, Amherst College 145. Karla Lorena Huaman Ruiz, St. Olaf College. 146. Margot Friedman, Skidmore College 147. Sarah Kate Murphy, Appalachian State University 148. Candace Fujikane, U of Hawai‘i 149. Samuel Dewees, Wesleyan University 150. Federico Sor, NYU Shanghai 151. MJ Engel, Columbia University 152. Graham Cairns, Columbia University 153. Lisa Henderson, University of Massachusetts Amherst 154. Kevin Gannon, Grand View University 155. Monica Barron, Truman State U 156. Christine Harker, Truman State U 157. Hannah Goodwin, UC Santa Barbara 158. Alice Jardine, Harvard U 159. Kenna Neitch, Texas Tech University 160. Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Montclair State University 161. Luis A. Ledesma, Contra Costa College 162. Jackie Weinstock, University of Vermont 163. Lauren Berlant, University of Chicago 164. Suzanna Walters, Northeastern University 165. Nancy Daley-Moore, Truman State University 166. Kanika Batra, Texas Tech University 167. McKenzie Campbell, Eastern Michigan University 168. Tina Escaja, University of Vermont 169. Dan DiPiero, Ohio State University 170. Carrie Baker, Smith College 171. Jane Chin Davidson, California State U of San Bernardino 172. Israel Cantu Silva, Professor, Autonomous University of Nuevo Leon, Mexico 173. Kavita Daiya, George Washington University 174. Serena Parekh, Northeastern University 175. Maree ReMalia, Middlebury College 176. Lindsay London, RN, UVM 177. Lauren Stuart Muller, City College of San Francisco (Middlebury MA 87) Middlebury Alumni and Students, and beyond: Julianna Tschirhart, Middlebury College '11 Nicholas Hodder-Hastorf, Middlebury College Alum Nathaniel W. Kerr, Middlebury College 2011 Sandra Luo, Middlebury College '18 Lucy Grinnan, Middlebury Class of 2019.5 Alex Macmillan, Middlebury Class of 2015 Ujjayan Siddharth, Middlebury College Anna Cerf, Middlebury College '18 Meridith Carroll, Middlebury College '15 David Chen, Middlebury '14 Marissa Perez, Middlebury College class of 2016 Pete Kerby-Miller, Middlebury College Nell Sather, Middlebury College Fiona Mohamed, Middlebury College Karl Lin, Middlebury College Tiffany Martinez, Middlebury college Michelle Kim, Middlebury College Stella Boye-Doe, Middlebury College Weston Uram, Middlebury Clara Sternberg, Middlebury College Moss Turpan, Middlebury College Jane Ames, Middlebury College Austin Kahn, Middlebury College Isabelle Shallcross, Middlebury College Jackson Frons, Middlebury College '16 Maya Goldberg-Safir, Middlebury College alum '12.5 Samantha Kaufman, Middlebury College Toren Hardee, Middlebury Class of 2011 Angeline Rodriguez, Middlebury College Alexandria Jackman, Middlebury ' 14 Maya Doig-Acuna, Middlebury College '16.5 Aashna Aggarwal, Middlebury College '16 Nic Valenti, Middlebury College Patrick McElravey, Middlebury College Rebecca Coates-Finke, Middlebury College alum Jiya Pandya, UWC and Middlebury College Nick Delehanty, Middlebury College Klaudia Wojciechowska, Middlebury College E. Emmons Hahn, Middlebury College ('10) and Cornell University ('14) Sydney Shuster, Middlebury College Emily Rosenkrantz, Middlebury College Barrett Smith, Middlebury College Class of 2013 Taylor Cook, Middlebury College Juliette Gobin Middlebury College '16 Katie Corrigan, Middlebury College Hannah Blair, Middlebury College '17 Molly McShane Samantha Lamont, Middlebury College class of '17 Erin Reid, Middlebury College '17 James Scott, Middlebury ‘19 Toni Cross, Middlebury College Kate McCreary, Middlebury College Elizabeth Lee, Middlebury College '17 Taite Shomo, Middlebury College Feliz Baca, Middlebury College '14, University of Arizona Lucia Christensen, Middlebury 2016 Zachary Lounsbury, Middlebury College '16 Anahi Naranjo, Middlebury College Jake Guth, Middlebury College '19 Sarah Thomas, Class of '14 Josh Brosnan Gaby Giangola, Wesleyan University Ameya Biradavolu, Middlebury College '16 Lily Heinemann, Temple University Katie Preston Middlebury College Gabriella Reynoso, Columbia University Tessa Peierls, Amherst College Clara Beccaro, Columbia University Alexis De La Rosa, Middlebury College Dale Aram Tassbihi, University of Maryland, College Park Dylan Otterbein, Middlebury '15.5 Hannah Phelps, Middlebury College Anna Paritsky, Middlebury College James Webster, Stanford University '73 Cecilia NÃoÃ±ez, Universidad de Buenos Aires Aaliyah Triumph, Columbia University Tim Hansen, Middlebury College Jack Tipper, Middlebury College Julia Deng, Brown University Pat Burke, Retired Military Lee Schlenker (Middlebury '16) Bri Aine, Claremont Colleges Chris Feeney, Middlebury College Gabe Weisbuch, Middlebury College class of 2018 Sparkle Joyner- Middlebury '12 Kate Murray, Middlebury College '15 Toni Cuevas, Middlebury College Pedro Bitar Hannah Muellerleile, Reed College Adina Marx-ARpadi, Middlebury College '13.5 Jada Young, Columbia University Milo Levine, Yale University Kate McCreary, Middlebury College '15 Joshua Claxton, Middlebury College Crystal Farkaschek, Middlebury College Samuel Boudreau, Middlebury College Sam Koplinka-Loehr, Middlebury College '13 Firas Nasr, Middlebury College, '15 Parker Ziegler, Middlebury College 100. Abigail Escobar, Middlebury College '20 101. Diana Luna, Middlebury College class of 2016 102. Andrew Bridgers, Middlebury College 103. Odessa Cross, University of California Santa Cruz 104. Addis Fouche-Channer, Middlebury College 105. Chelsea Melone, Middlebury College 106. Shahruz Ghaemi, Amherst College '19 107. Krysta Wetzel, St. Olaf College 108. Kai Wiggins, Middlebury College '16.5 109. Tia Schaffer, St. Olaf College 110. Kylee Novak, St. Olaf College 111. Rachel Hemond, student at Middlebury College 112. Margaret Lindon, Middlebury College class of 2016 113. Danielle Davis, St. Olaf College 114. Ashley Smith, St. Olaf 115. Ladji Mouflet, Middlebury College 116. Zachary Lounsbury, Middlebury College Class of 2016 117. John Percival, St. Olaf College 118. Eliza Klein, Williams College 119. James Moser, Middlebury College class of 2016.5 120. Rachel Bradshaw, Linfield College 121. Canary Ly, Middlebury College 122. Jessica Joslin, University of Michigan 123. Robin Murray, Circle in the Square Theatre School 124. Addie Mahdavi, Middlebury College Student 125. Alyssa Brown, Middlebury College 126. Israel A Mora, Middlebury College 127. Nitya Mankad, Middlebury College 128. Natalie Jamerson, Whitman College 129. Leena Chawla, Middlebury College 130. Kolbe Franklin '08, University at Albany-SUNY 131. Danielle Surrette Middlebury College 132. Sarah Goodwin, Skidmore College 133. Margaret Rose-McCandlish, Middlebury College 17.5 134. Bess Hepner, Smith College alumni 135. Ana Vega, University of Delaware 136. Rebecca Duras, Middlebury College 137. Ben Simonds-Malamud, Northeastern University 138. Tom Dobrow, Middlebury College class of 2016 139. Zoe Ravina, Emory University 140. Tiff Chang, ex-student at Middlebury College 141. Morgan Mahdavi, Kalamazoo College 142. Rui Tai Hu, Middlebury College '16 143. Ixchel LÃ3pez, Wellesley College 144. Sean Edenson, Temple University 145. Jessica Masinter, Middlebury Student 146. Natalie Brottman, St. Olaf College 147. Emily Johnston, Wellesley College 148. Jasmine Ross, Middlebury College Class of 2016 149. Dylan Walker, St. Olaf College '18 150. Monica Tamayo, California State University Los Angeles 151. Stephen Chen, Middlebury College 152. Becca Holdhusen, Middlebury College 153. Javier Miranda, Iowa State University 154. Alexis Rufi, St. Olaf College 155. Jocelyn Tenorio, Middlebury College '19 156. Ellie Simon, Middlebury College 157. John Cheesman, Middlebury '16 158. Caley Henderson, Middlebury College 159. Jonathan O'Dell, Middlebury College 160. Alaire Hughey, Linfield College 161. Lynn Travnikova, Middlebury College 162. Juan Andrade-Vera, Middlebury College '19 163. Hannah Rae Murphy, Middlebury College '14.5 164. Erin Davis, Weybridge, VT 165. Hannah Helmey, Emory University 166. Marbella Cervantes- UIC 167. Elizabeth Aguilar, University of Central Florida 168. Tara Maloney, St. Olaf College 169. Amber Scott, Claremont McKenna College 170. Alexander Bacchus, Middlebury College 171. Thea Lund, St. Olaf College 172. Phoebe Gunther-Mohr, University of Vermont 173. Emmanuel Choi, Berklee College of Music 174. Emmet Mahdavi, Bard College 175. Erika Lin, University of California Santa Cruz 176. Anwyn Darrow, University of Vermont 177. Shaheen Bharwani, Middlebury College 178. Sophie Swallow, Middlebury College 179. Giannina Gaspero-Beckstrom, UVM 180. Molly Rose-Williams, Middlebury College 181. Yael Platt, Brandeis University 182. Georgiann Steely, St. Olaf College 183. Aoife Duna, Middlebury College 184. Ruby Edlin, Middlebury College 185. Ahmara Smith, Savannah college of art and design 186. Kyle J. Wright, Middlebury College '19 187. Kaitlyn Francis, Middlebury College 188. Arleigh Truesdale, St. Olaf College 189. Charlotte Cahillane, Middlebury College 190. Vang Thao, St Olaf College 191. Lilia Escobar, St. Olaf College 192. Graham Glennon, St. Olaf College 193. Alexis Finemyn 194. Rika Kimonaka, Northeastern University 195. Shannia Fu, Middlebury College 196. Greyson Gove, Pomona College 197. Rick Hong Manayan, Wesleyan University 198. Kayla Carlson, St. Olaf College 199. JÃ¡n Tompkins, Anglo-American University, Prague 200. Catherine Stookey, St. Olaf College 201. Maya Peers Nitzberg, Middlebury College '16.5 202. Nina Sweeney, Middlebury College 203. Brenda Quintanilla, Loyola Marymount University '19 204. Katherine Novey, Middlebury College, '20 205. Magen Eissenstat (Rice University '17) 206. Alex Brockelman, Middlebury College '18 207. Luke Rein, College of Charleston 208. Emma Walker, Middlebury College '18 209. Katie Willis, Middlebury College '12 210. Rose Hoffman, Bennington College '20 211. Carley Tsiames, Amherst College 212. Hannah Habermann, Middlebury '18 213. Genevieve Darling, Hamilton College '18 214. Gillian Durkee, Middlebury College '11.5 215. Lily Oyler, Middlebury College alum ('15.5) 216. Joanna Georgakas, Middlebury College '14 217. Maddie Dai, Middlebury College '14 218. Avery Travis, Middlebury College '18 219. Dokter Snus, Middlebury College '13 220. Hana Gebremariam, Middlebury College '17 221. Sandra Markowitz, Middlebury College '15.5 222. Paige Guarino, Middlebury '18.5 223. Kim Ammons, Middlebury College '11 224. Thomas Brummett Cranbrook Acadamy of Art MFA 1983 225. Surya Tubach, Middlebury College 226. Devon Tomasi, Middlebury College '17 227. Michael Wegter, St. Olaf college '18 228. Caroline Carty, Carleton College '20 229. Audrey Tolbert, Middlebury College '13 230. Morgan Gorst, University of Nevada, Las Vegas 231. Samantha Gaines, Middlebury College 232. Prasanna Vankina, Middlebury College '18 233. Jason Milan 234. Gabriel Coleman, St. Olaf College '17 235. Zach Howe, Middlebury College '11 236. Kiana Cateriano, Middlebury College class of 2015.5 237. Amity Calvin, Middlebury College '16 238. Sofi Hecht, Middlebury College '18 239. Cora Kircher, Middlebury College class of 2020 240. Therese Ton, Swarthmore College '19 241. Curtis Mraz, University of Puget Sound '18 242. Jeremy Alben, Middlebury College '18 243. Rebecca Berry, Middlebury College, '16.5 244. James Kipp, Middlebury College 245. Sara Swett Middlebury College 2017 246. Alexandra Bertagnolli King, Middlebury College class of 2010 247. Lewis Nottonson, Middlebury College '19 248. Diana Luna, Middlebury College '16 249. Jan Shireman, parent of Alumni 250. Emily Cipriani Middlebury College '19.5 251. Bianca Howell, Yale University 252. Sasha Rivera, Middlebury '12 253. Sumner Pitt, Saint Olaf College '19 254. Shan Zeng, Middlebury College '19 255. Emily Newman, St. Olaf College '17 256. Sam Catlin, The University of Chicago, Middlebury College '14.5 257. Sabrina Munsterteiger, University of Minnesota 258. Victoria Burns, University of Iowa 259. Cara Levine, Middlebury College '20 260. Emma Webster, Bard College '17 261. Octavio Hingle-Webster, Middlebury Class of '17 262. Ann Surber, Wesleyan University 263. James Wheeler, St. Olaf College 264. Angie Bush, University of Utah '09 265. Alexandra Griffin, Williams College '19 266. Naomi Chalk, St. Olaf College '18 267. Kjersti Anderson, St. Olaf College '17 268. Adilene Alvarado Saint Mary's College of California 269. James Scott, Middlebury College '19 270. Liam Hannan, St Olaf College '18 271. James Scott, Middlebury College '19 272. Maree ReMalia, Middlebury College 273. Silvia Cantu Bautista, Middlebury College '20 274. Irene Henry, St. Olaf College 275. Lucy Jermyn, Massachusetts College of Art and Design 276. Sam Snyder, Middlebury College '17 277. Sharai Lewis-Gruss, Middlebury College '07 278. Kristina Butler, St. Olaf College '17 279. Pearl McAndrews, St. Olaf College 280. Terri Strassburger, Syracuse U 281. Jared Smith, Middlebury College '13 282. Phoebe Martel 283. Justin Martinez, St. Olaf College '20 284. Jackie Park 285. Lucy Nussbaum, Middlebury College '19 286. Fraser Query 287. Zubair Khan, UMD '19 288. Emma Urbaska, University of Vermont '21 289. Tarik Shahzad, Middlebury College Class of '20 290. Kjersa Anderson, St. Olaf College '18 291. Jenna Haywood, University of California Santa Cruz 292. Maggy Mulhern, Middlebury College '17 293. Allegra Molkenthin, Middlebury College 294. Julie White, Prescott College '16 295. Olivia Collens, Middlebury College '18 296. Nathan Rose, Middlebury College '18.5 297. Allie Aiello, Middlebury College '17 298. Lucy Nussbaum, Middlebury College '19 299. Amitai Ben-Abba, Middlebury College '15 300. Julia Beck, Middlebury College 301. Lorena Neira, Middlebury College '17 302. Sarah Willstein, St. Olaf College '19 303. Denise Hingle, parent of Middlebury Student 304. Demetrius Brown, St. Olaf 305. Camille Ross-Williams, Concordia University '20 306. Mercy Garriga, St Olaf College, '18 307. Kashka Kril-Atkins, University of Toronto 308. Kathleen Wilson, Middlebury College '18.5 309. Emily Cox, Middlebury College '17 310. Georgia Grace Edwards, Middlebury College '18 311. Grace Murtha-Paradis 312. Dillon Cathro, St. Olaf College 313. Jessica Dils, Parent, Middlebury College 314. Isabela Torres, Amherst College '19 315. Brittany Kembel, St. Olaf College, ‘16 316. Efren Ramirez Jr., VP of CUBe, St. Olaf '18 317. Josh Schneider, Co-Director, Cascadia Action Network 318. Asha Rao, Co-Director, Cascadia Action Network 319. Jennifer Crandall, Middlebury College 320. Alyne Goncalves, Middlebury College 321. Paola Reyes, Escuela Profesional de Danza de MazatlÃ¡n 322. Emily Butka, St. Olaf College

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/05/open-letter-to-president-patton-2

Dispatches from Monterey

(05/04/17 1:30am)

This April, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies became the first graduate school to be named a Fair Trade University. Over the course of this academic year, students have been working to complete a fair trade campaign for the Institute. This process entailed increasing the number of fair trade products for sale on campus, integrating fair trade dialogues into the classroom, and creating a resolution about the Institute’s commitment to fair trade that is passed through the administration. This process has brought awareness of fair trade to the campus for current students, but the commitment of the administration represents a continued dedication to fair trade in years to come. On April 14, a public forum took place at MIIS entitled “Setting the Course: California Leadership in the Age of Trump”. Three state government officials sat on the panel: Assemblymember Mark Stone, State Secretary of Natural Resources John Laird and the State Senator Bill Monning, who was previously a faculty member at the Institute. The Forum addressed the discrepancies between state and federal views on climate change and the responsibility of the state government to stand strong on environmental issues under the current administration. Alongside environmental issues, the panel addressed social issues such as California’s high incarceration rate. Panelists reminded attendees that no issue is isolated, and drew immigration policy and economic opportunities into the discussion of climate change. Nonproliferation experts at MIIS have played critical roles in media coverage of North Korea’s nuclear program over the past few weeks. Recent tests of weapons as well as a military parade in honor of the nation’s founding leader on April 15 have heightened international coverage of the country’s nuclear program, and a variety of experts from MIIS’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies have been sought out as resources as national and international media sources work to analyze news and images related to North Korea’s nuclear program. The United Nations’ annual translation contest awarded two out of its six 2016 student prizes to students of the Middlebury Institute on April 21. Shuai Wang won the student prize in the Chinese category, and Amy Mendenhall won the student prize in the English category, translating from Spanish. Shuai and Amy are studying translation and localized management and conference interpretation, respectively. The Institute is one of 23 international institutions that have signed memorandums of understanding with the UN, ensuring cooperation in training future language professionals for the UN’s language examinations. Membership in this network allows students at the Institute to submit to this annual St. Jerome Translation Contest, and students are competing with future professionals in the fields of translation and interpretation across the globe. The Middlebury Institute stretched earth day into earth week this April, with events ranging from April 17 up until the 27th. The week began with an invitation for students to sign a no-plastic-pledge for the week as the Ocean Club brought students’ attention to our impact on the oceans. Events featured complimentary fair trade coffee, tea, and cookies as the Institute seeks to integrate more fair trade products into the school’s events. The week featured trivia, an earth day fair, and a vegan tour of whole foods. Over the weekend, students attended a Volunteer Day at the Big Sur Land Trust and a climate summit hosted at the Institute. This 10-day earth week event perpetuated the excitement on campus over the Institute’s recognition as a fair trade university earlier in the month and raised students’ awareness of further positive impacts they can have on our community and the environment.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/05/dispatches-from-monterey

MiddMouth: Featuring Tyler Belmont

(04/27/17 1:39am)

This week’s MiddMouth poet is Tyler Belmont ’17. Tyler is from Colorado Springs and is majoring in International Politics and Economics. He enjoys playing bass, writing poems, and advancing the empathy that derives from enlightened cultural exchange, among other things that generally never come close to becoming a self-reliant citizen or eliminating insurmountable sums of student loans. MB: How would you describe your creative process? TB: The best creativity comes in bursts and struggles. I find that my better products are expressions between separation’s anguish and the struggle to obtain hope and grace: separation from God or from love and loved ones; struggle for a more perfect understanding; hope for the world we live in. Struggles like these often manifest themselves in an attempt to understand the implications of identity, as well as the degree of individual and collective agency within the channels of history. I find a flavor of the day and let it ferment in a state or place in which I find myself or to which I desire to return. No poem is ever truly resolved. I’m always coming back for revisions, but I also keep the old versions in case I over-revise and need to back-track towards scruffiness. MB: How would you describe your relationship to poetry? TB: Ever since my high school English teacher (a former Bread Loafer!) made me lead an hour-long discussion on Wallace Stevens and his “Emperor of Ice Cream,” I’ve found poetry to be a capricious means of digestion. On the best days, it’s like eating something deliciously alive. But in digesting what the world feeds, poetry also has a way of cementing the mind’s rabbit holes. Unfortunately, I find that I often unduly cling to despair so that I might extract a more potent artistic experience, which becomes exhausting. I heard they make meds for that. In somebody else’s words, art can be therapeutic, but it’s no substitute for therapy. This is something I’m beginning to understand; there are weeks when I try and leave poetry alone. The Pursuit of Dignity By Tyler Belmont Salted wood strewn along the frosted shore yields in flames the warmest of cold comforts, casts the solitariness of glazed winter to the fringe. If there is any single truth that might be granted, let it now be this: that it is incorrect to say that this is resignation. Let it rather be the uplift from an impervious fog, a steady hand that proffers a tired camaraderie’s comforts in its palm; cold tablets to be twisted down the length of the esophagus. And with it comes the ultimate restoration of a pride, the unadulterated agency that once left the side, evading reach within this aimless fog, and was today in the tablets’ fleeting sapors rediscovered.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/04/middmouth-featuring-tyler-belmont

In Defense of an Intersectional Education

(04/21/17 3:08am)

The liberal arts curriculum advertises itself as preparing us with skills that will apply to any job we might take while offering a selection of classes that spans a multitude of academic disciplines. In some ways, the curriculum is changing, in others it remains deeply rooted in tradition. Some departments are more traditional than others; English majors are expected to be familiar with great works from Shakespeare to modernists and Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies majors study works that critique traditional, culturally determined lines of thought — but they all come away with the skills to write, articulate their ideas and critically analyze the world around them. We write today to commend Middlebury on the strides it has taken in making our education more broad and inclusive and to encourage even more breadth and interdisciplinary study that will allow us to modernize our education and experience different perspectives. Starting next semester, the changes to the AAL requirement will go into effect. For those not in the know, students have been campaigning to alter the AAL requirement for several years now, the argument being that current cultural requirements are euro-centric and lump all cultures that are not North American or European together. Students are currently required to take one course concerning North America, one concerning Europe, one comparative and then one from literally anywhere else. The new requirement will separate North and South Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America and make a more equitable representation of cultures a part of the Middlebury experience. There will be five regions of which you will have to get credits in three plus a comparative credit. This gives more agency to students in crafting their own education and it will be possible to avoid a euro-centric education if one wishes. Middlebury faculty are also considering an Education major for the first time (so long as it is a double major) which will give students teaching credentials in Vermont. Among other developments, there is now a movement to expand the American Sign Language offerings and the College has started to offer newer classes in journalism and finance. We applaud these moves that we believe will move Middlebury forward in fostering an inclusive, modern education. We have also seen the introduction of academic clusters — food studies, privilege and poverty, the global health minor — that allow students to acknowledge and follow trends in their studies even across traditional academic disciplines. These clusters cross departmental boundaries from economics to anthropology to environmental studies to literature. We encourage the school to continue to foster these relevant and interdisciplinary clusters and advise students to take advantage of them. We also believe that there are ways to make existing classes more interdisciplinary and far-reaching. One way to do this would be more interdepartmental communication and collaboration. For example, more professors could invite their colleagues more frequently to present, for example, both anthropological and economic sides of the same issue, or else literary and social theory. More classes could be joint taught by professors and cross-listed between departments. Many professors have studied the same historical moments, cultural movements and novels in their various disciplines. J-term is a prime example both of where interdisciplinary classes already happen and a prime opportunity to have more of them. Another great example of an already-existing major that is interdisciplinary and interdepartmental is neuroscience, which draws on psychology, biology and even philosophy courses. By making our experience more wideranging, more diverse and allowing us to think about issues in a variety of ways, the Middlebury curriculum can continue to evolve with the times and keep the liberal arts education relevant. We commend the College on the ways it has already helped the Middlebury experience to evolve and encourage the Middlebury community at large to continue to think critically about the education we are receiving and how to make that education as intentional and as relevant as possible.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/04/in-defense-of-an-intersectional-education

Faculty Debate Free Speech Handbook Policy

(04/12/17 8:08pm)

A group of faculty members presented a motion to add a “Freedom of Expression Policy” to the “General Information” section of the College handbook at the April 9 Faculty Plenary meeting. The following professors submitted the motion: Assistant Professor of Religion Ata Anzali, Assistant Professor of Political Science Keegan Callanan, Fulton Professor of Humanities Stephen Donadio, Frederick C. Dirks Professor of Political Science Michael Kraus, Associate Professor of Economics Caitlin Myers, D. E. Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing Jay Parini, Curt C. and Else Silberman Professor of Jewish Studies Robert Schine, Associate Professor of Mathematics John Schmitt, Russell J. Leng ‘60 Professor of International Politics and Economics Allison Stanger and John M. McCardell Jr. Distinguished Professor Don Wyatt. Their motion comes in the midst of on-campus debates over free speech and inclusivity in the wake of student-led protests that prevented Dr. Charles Murray from delivering a scheduled lecture on March 2. The faculty group emerged out of an informal conversation about the future of free expression at Middlebury. “There are several places in the handbook that address academic freedom in one way or another,” Myers said. “But they all have local purposes and don’t provide a complete, coherent, clear statement of policy that protects the whole community — faculty, staff, and students as well as any guest they invite.” “Because the College is committed to free and open inquiry in all matters, it guarantees all members of the College community the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge and learn,” reads their motion. “It is not the proper role of the College to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.” The motion emphasised that one of the purposes of higher education is to serve as a place where contrasting ideas can be presented and discussed. “In a community striving toward this end, free speech protects the right of all individuals and groups to be heard. We recognize the uneven burden that freedom of speech can impose on under-represented minorities. By the same token, minorities often stand to lose the most under regimes of restricted speech,” the motion reads. It also acknowledges that freedom of speech does not protect all kinds of speech. “The freedom to debate and discuss the merits of competing ideas does not, of course, mean that individuals may say whatever they wish, wherever they wish,” said the motion. “The College may restrict expression that violates the law, that falsely defames a specific individual, that constitutes a genuine threat or harassment, that unjustifiably invades substantial privacy or confidentiality interests, or that is otherwise directly incompatible with the functioning of the College.” Although part of the motion was drafted by Middlebury faculty, it also proposes the adoption of the University of Chicago’s “Freedom of Inquiry and Expression” policy and the AAUP’s statement, “On Freedom of Expression and Campus Speech Codes.” After Myers, Anzali, Callanan and Donadio presented the motion to the faculty, Professor of Film & Media Studies and American Studies Jason Mittell, speaking on behalf of more than 30 faculty members, introduced a substitution motion to delay considering the proposal. Faculty spoke against the proposal not necessarily due to the content of the motion, but because of the timing, process and way in which it was introduced. The faculty who drafted the substitute motion met on April 5, and decided to reject debating the “Freedom of Expression Policy” because they believe that it is necessary to discuss the College’s shared values before discussing future policy implementations. They also believe that policy changes should not occur in the midst of investigations into the protests on March 2. “There are disciplinary actions currently underway concerning a number of our students, and potentially even our faculty and staff colleagues,” Mittell said. “Changing our handbook language in ways that pertain to those investigations and accusations in the midst of the proceedings is potentially damaging to the integrity (perceived or in practice) of our judicial process.” He also argued that the passage of such a motion would only strengthen current political divides on campus. “Presenting this policy now will be treated as a referendum on the March 2nd event, and our current factionalization will become even more polarized and destructive,” he said. “Regardless of its intent, this motion will be regarded by many as a direct rebuke against colleagues and students, rather than a sincere statement of principles. Even some who agree with the spirit of the policy will always regard it as tainted by politics.” Mittell ended his remarks by saying that the passage of such a motion should not be done without consulting students and staff. The motion that he introduced recommended that changes to the handbook regarding free speech should be discussed and drafted by the ad hoc committee of students, faculty and staff that will soon be established by the Office of the Provost. “We ask that one goal of this joint committee will be to consider and offer recommendations for actions, policies and statements that can help us move forward and assert shared community values which all constituencies can commit to collaboratively,” reads the motion. “We also ask that relevant policy recommendations should be considered by this joint committee before being addressed by other policy-making bodies, to ensure an inclusive and deliberative process." After Mittell made this motion, Associate Professor of Political Science Bertram Johnson offered a friendly amendment to change the language of the last line from "addressed by" to "voted on." This friendly amendment, while accepted by Mittell, has not yet been approved by the faculty. It will require a vote at the May plenary meeting. Per Robert’s Rules of Order, the discussion then turned into a debate between the two motions. Several faculty members supported the substitute motion and the delay of the first motion, citing that the introduction of the first motion was done too soon. Other faculty members spoke in favor of the first motion, and argued that, by delaying discussion of the “Freedom of Expression Policy,” the substitute motion limited the ability of the faculty to debate issues of free speech. “From the outset we made it clear that we had no intention of trying to ram [the first proposal] through without time for consideration and debate. We have brought it forward as one discussion point in a broader conversation about our values as an academic community,” Myers said. “The original version of the substitute motion was quite shocking to me in that it gags and binds the faculty in addressing any concrete proposals related to the Murray incident until next winter. The ‘friendly amendment’ removes the gag, but I’m still quite troubled that some colleagues want to constrain faculty governance.” “If passed, the substitute motion would have been a novelty in the annals of faculty governance: a faculty voting to forbid itself from discussing something,” Callanan said. However, those who supported the substitute motion argued that delaying discussion and a vote on the “Freedom of Expression Policy” did not limit the faculty’s ability to talk about the issue, rather, it allowed for the faculty to engage in a conversation about these values with the broader community. “The initial motion frames the entire conversation around the free speech policy proposal on the faculty floor, which drastically limits what issues might be addressed and who can participate. Our substitute motion embraces multiple issues beyond just free speech, such as inclusivity, diversity and community, and brings students and staff to the table as well,” Mittell said. “Our colleagues on Faculty Council and the Provost’s office are sponsoring many opportunities for community discussions on these issues, so I see no lack of open conversations in a wide range of venues. In short, our substitute motion actually aims to broaden the terms, scope and inclusivity of speech about the March 2nd events and their aftermath.” After a lengthy debate at the April 9 meeting, the faculty did not vote on the two proposals. Debate will continue at the May 16 meeting which will be held at 3 p.m. at Wilson Hall in the McCullough Student Center.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/04/faculty-debate-free-speech-handbook-policy

New Essay Collection Makes the Case for Terence Rattigan

(03/23/17 2:09am)

John Bertolini first discovered the work of Terence Rattigan as a young boy at the movies, where he developed a taste for Rattigan’s “great theatrical skill.” It is his view that Rattigan is the preeminent British dramatist of the twentieth century, second only to George Bernard Shaw, who belongs as much to the nineteenth century as he does the twentieth. A self-described devotee, Bertolini published his first book on Shaw, “The Playwriting Self of Bernard Shaw,” in 1991. At the college, Bertolini, who is Ellis Professor of English and the Liberal Arts, teaches courses that explore the works of Shaw and Rattigan and their relationship to one another. His latest book, “The Case for Terence Rattigan, Playwright,” is a study of Rattigan that seeks, as he writes in the book’s preface, “to illustrate Peter O’Toole’s assertion that Rattigan is the best playwright of the twentieth century.” The book is part of a series of scholarly works aimed to deepen the academic study of Shaw through the exploration of his contemporaries. “What appeals to me in Shaw is his heroic optimism. He is the embodiment of the comic spirit of life,” Bertolini said. “But, I know there’s another side to life. And Rattigan seemed to me among modern British playwrights to be the one whose representation of the tragic side of life appealed to me the most.” In his lifetime, Rattigan established himself as a kind of foil to Shaw, as a playwright of character and situation, rather than one of ideas.”The contrasting approaches to drama make Rattigan and Shaw, in a way, complementary playwrights. The reader gets more out of one by reading the other. “[Reading Shaw and Rattigan together] highlights what is characteristic of each one. It enables you to see better what is unique to Rattigan and what is unique to Shaw,” he said. “[One can see] how much the ‘play of ideas’ really differs from the play of ‘character and situation.’” However, as Bertolini points out, there are certainly elements of “character and situation” in Shaw, and “ideas” in Rattigan. And that while they are complementary, there are also many ways in which they resemble one another. The greatest similarity is, simply, their great theatrical skill, the way in which they set up their effects and follow through with them. Rattigan maintained a high level of dramatic art from his first play to his last play, due in part to his natural flare for drama and his willingness to challenge the form. An example of this comes in “The Winslow Boy,” a courtroom drama that centers around the trial of a young boy but never actually has a scene in the courtroom. “That reminds me of Shakespeare’s experimentation with dramatic form,” Bertolini said. “That is the sign of a real artist. The challenge of the form." For Bertolini, the hallmarks of Rattigan’s style are his use of understatement and implication. “A good playwright has to know what not to have his characters say and when to have them not say it,” Bertolini said. “It is drama achieved through something you expect the character to say, you’re waiting for them to say it, but they don’t say it. Or they say it when you least expect it, they hold off saying it. And that catches your attention. ‘Why isn’t she telling him that she loves him?’ And then you see why she isn’t, because it’s too painful to confront the rejection.” What makes Rattigan a truly great playwright, says Bertolini, is the way in which he used understatement, implication, character and situation to deliver tragedies that illustrated his unique view of life: the sadness of it, the inevitability of defeat, how victory often feels like defeat. In the later years of his life, Rattigan abandoned comedy and focused solely on delivering this tragic vision. “I think he stopped writing comedies because he no longer believed in the comic sense of life that animated Shaw all of his life, for example. It became impossible for him to write comedies. He just no longer had that as part of his vision of life,” Bertolini said. In the more than forty years he has been teaching drama at the College, Bertolini says he has found that Rattigan’s plays and tragic vision tend to resonate particularly well with students. “[Students] are carried along by his skill. By his ability to write one scene after another that keep their interest and stir up questions in the audience’s mind,” he said. “I think the overall vision of defeated humanity is pretty compelling. How many people realize all their dreams? How many people are completely happy in life? Very few. And he writes about that.” He says that teaching and engaging with students at the College has greatly contributed to his study of Rattigan. “I always write about what I teach, and I always teach what I write about. They have a symbiotic relationship for me. I get all sorts of stimulation from the ideas of students in class,” Bertolini said. “Sometimes I’ll even use them as springboards to finding, extending and embellishing other ideas. It’s always a challenge to keep up with students in the classroom. They keep me on my toes. I love hearing their reactions to the plays, their ideas about them, where they see Rattigan doing this, that and the other thing and how that affects what he creates.” Bertolini says that he hopes his teaching and scholarship will help ensure that the legacy of Rattigan will live on. “I like to think of the future,” he said. “To think that when my students have children they will say, ‘Oh, here’s a great play that you should read.’ or ‘Here, I want you to look at a film of “The Winslow Boy.”’ I’m consoled by that, because I feel like then the work will never die.”

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/03/new-work-makes-the-case-for-terrence-rattigan

Conference Discusses Shaping Culture by Language

(03/16/17 5:52am)

On Saturday, March 11, The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs hosted its Fifth Annual International Conference, drawing many students, faculty and staff who were keen to hear lectures on the theme, “From Scroll to Scrolling: Shifting Cultures of Language and Identity.” The conference was composed of seventeen lectures by scholars from around the globe, each organized by theme into six individual 90-minute sessions. Lead organizer of the conference and Director of the Rohatyn Center Tamar Mayer introduced the event on Thursday, March 9, before speakers Stephanie Ann Frampton of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Associate Professor of Anthropology James L. Fitzsimmons commenced the lectures. Mayer thanked everyone who made it possible and situated the theme within a historical and modern day setting. She spoke about a New York Times piece written by Ilan Stavans, the LewisSebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, entitled “Trump, the Wall and the Spanish Language.” In his piece, Stavans likened President Trump to Shih Huang Ti, the Chinese Emperor who built the Great Wall of China and banned all books from the kingdom – acts which seem parallel Trump’s construction of the wall between the U.S. and Mexico and his elimination of the White House website’s Spanish-language option. “[Stavans] points to the power of political authority within languages,” Mayer said. “In addition to demonstrating the potency of words within a binary of structure of us versus them, the Shih Huang Ti story illustrates the role of new writing systems in forging a national identity and the power of political authority to make decisions about language.” “This was the case more than two millennia ago and remains so today,” Mayer said. Mayer’s intention was to emphasize the relevance and importance of language to modern culture, which is evident in Stavans’s piece regarding the minimization of the Spanish language within the U.S. and the resulting exclusion of Spanish speaking U.S. citizens. “Of the more than seven thousand languages and dialects that exist today, it is predicted that less than 10 percent will survive by the year 2100,” Mayer said. “Since language is an important menu for culture and the display of heritage and history, linguistic and cultural survival are intertwined.” In a lecture titled, “Learning to Write in the West,” Frampton, who is a scholar of classics and the history of media in antiquity and an associate professor of literature at MIT, spoke about her research into the formation of the written Roman alphabet. Frampton argued in her abstract “that from its first appearance the Roman alphabet — our alphabet — was a deeply multicultural and historical technology, tying the Romans in visible ways to the communities that surrounded them.” She shared a photo of the earliest known example of the Greek alphabet, which was an inscription on a vase used in burial practices in Osteria dell’Ossa, Italy. Its inscription, which reads “she who spins well,” is assumed to refer to the woman buried with it. Frampton spoke about the way in which this inscription gave value to what was otherwise a simple, clay vase, and how this was most likely the reason it was included in the burial. “When writing first appears in Italy, when the alphabet first appears in the Western Mediterranean, it appears to give value to the very material that exists as its physical support,” Frampton said. Frampton discussed the way in which the inscription upon the vase reflected not only material value, but also many aspects of the community’s culture. Frampton concluded her lecture with a focus on the “fundamental integration” of object and text, as seen in the relationship between the vase and its inscription. “The meaning of the inscription is indelibly linked to the substrate on which it was written, both integrated into the activity of honoring [the woman],” Frampton said. “By re-joining texts and object, this interpretation secures the significance of this faint text as an intentional monument of commemoration for the woman in whose tomb we find it,” she said. Fitzsimmons followed Frampton with a lecture entitled, “A Spectrum of Literacy: Writing and the ancient Maya.” He argued that the complicated nature of the Mayan writing system was actually intentional because, as he said in his abstract, “for the ruling class, broad illiteracy was a key part of statecraft.” Throughout his talk, Fitzsimmons built upon Mayer’s introductory point that when authorities control language, they also control knowledge. He displayed an image of ancient Mayan glyphs and described the way in which such inscriptions were most often read aloud because so much of the population was illiterate. “Being able to read and write, being able to understand the complexities of the system you see here was probably not an ability shared by people everywhere,” said Fitzsimmons. “The vast majority of people [in these Mayan communities], perhaps as much as 99 percent, could not read or write ... The elites were the ones continuing to read and write inscriptions.” However, Fitzsimmons emphasized that this did not mean that most of the population was ignorant or unintelligent, and that the elites were not necessarily all completely literate, which is where the “spectrum of literacy” comes into play. Many elites used scribes who were able to read the complex Mayan system and were not accessible to the common man. Fitzsimmons’s lecture was followed by an extended question and answer session, in which themes of status, literacy and the democratization of language were discussed. The lectures also generated thought about the aesthetic value of language, and student audience member Kylie Winger ’19 brought up the phenomenon of tattoos in America being written in Chinese and Japanese characters and tshirt slogans in China and Japan being written in English. Winger, who is a Literary Studies major at the College, said she attended the conference because of an interest in the theme. Winger has taken Chinese for six years, and as a result felt an appreciation for those who are able to decipher the Mayan glyphs Fitzsimmons displayed. “Sometimes I would run across people who would be blown away that I could read Chinese — it was such a foreign thing,” Winger said. “That’s how I felt when [Fitzsimmons] was talking about the Mayan writing system — it’s insane that we can read that.” In addition to the discussion of language in Frampton and Fitzsimmons’s lectures, topics ranged from a study on “The Democratization of Texts and Qur’anic Healing in Morocco” to a lecture on the “Theater of Rebellion: Danny Yung and Political Hong Kong Theater.” The Rohatyn Center will be hosting its Sixth Annual International Conference on March 8-11 of next year, this time focusing on the theme, “The Decolonization Project.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/03/conference-discusses-shaping-culture-by-language

Charles Murray Protest, Talk Garner Media Attention

(03/10/17 3:44am)

National news and media outlets have been spotlighting the on-campus protests against Charles Murray, a libertarian columnist and sociologist who, due to student demonstrations, was prevented from delivering a guest lecture on Thursday, March 2. The events and their aftermath drew attention from major publications and broadcast programs including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, PBS NewsHour and Fox News. The majority of sources ran pieces denouncing the protest as well as the altercation that resulted in the neck injury of Allison Stanger, an international politics and economics professor who moderated the virtual question-and-answer session with Murray. In his piece “A Violent Act on Free Speech” published in The Atlantic, Peter Beinart, a political columnist and contributing editor for the magazine, pointed to the protests as evidence that “something has gone badly wrong on the campus left.” Referring to the recent protests against a planned speech delivered by Milo Yiannopoulos at the University of California, Berkeley, Beinart wrote, “If what happened at Berkeley, and now at Middlebury, goes unchallenged, sooner or later, liberals will get shouted down too.” The New York Times featured the incident over several articles, including an editorial published on the front page of its website, titled, “Smothering Speech at Middlebury.” The editorial board criticized protesters’ refusal to lend Murray a platform to speak, labeling the event “a violent free-speech debacle.” The board wrote, “Mr. Murray is an academic with an argument to make about class in America … and maybe it is flawed. But Middlebury students had no chance to challenge him on any of his views. Thought and persuasion, questions and answers, were eclipsed by intimidation.” Fox News reproduced an essay written by Murray following the events. His reflection originally appeared on the blog of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the public policy think tank whose branch at the College invited Murray to deliver a guest lecture. In his piece, Murray wrote, “Academia is already largely sequestered in an ideological bubble, but at least it’s translucent. That bubble will become opaque.” College faculty utilized several of these platforms to voice their own commentary on the matter, as well. Professor of English and Creative Writing Jay Parini and Assistant Professor of Political Science Keegan Callanan wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, outlining the core principles they deem “unassailable in the context of higher education within a free society.” These principles were endorsed by over 60 faculty members at the College. Included in this core principles list are the following statements: “Exposure to controversial points of view does not constitute violence … Students have the right to challenge and even to protest non-disruptively the views of their professors and guest speakers … The purpose of college is not to make faculty or students comfortable in their opinions and prejudices.” Although a majority of news outlets openly denounced the events, not every publication ran condemnatory views on the matter. Dean Spade of The Chronicle of Higher Education wrote, “It is not fair to portray student activists as troublemakers damaging the institution’s reputation. First, it is not the students’ responsibility to portray their colleges as wonderful destinations if they are not experiencing them that way. Second, the disruptive activists are often the same students who are leading student organizations, mentoring new students, pipelining high schoolers, and otherwise devoting themselves to making the institution more accessible and survivable for marginalized people.”

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/03/charles-murray-protest-talk-garner-media-attention

Letter from Middlebury Faculty

(03/03/17 2:44am)

Dear President Patton, We the undersigned faculty respectfully request that you, as our president, cancel your introductory remarks at the Charles Murray event on Thursday. Mr. Murray is, as you know, a discredited ideologue paid by the American Enterprise Institute to promote public policies targeting people of color, women and the poor. His work has employed a combination of eugenics and other pseudo-science that has time and time again shown to be based on false premises, inadequate research and erroneous conclusions. He is not an academic nor a “critically acclaimed” public scholar, but a well-funded phony. His research is an insult to the intellectual integrity of Middlebury College. To introduce him—even to critique his arguments—only lends legitimacy to his ideas as worth engaging with. To be clear, this is not a case of disagreeing with the ideas of a fellow scholar. Rather, this is to recognize that this event was organized by a chapter of the American Enterprise Institute, is funded by the AEI, and that Mr. Murray has been peddling AEI propaganda as a “public scholar” since the 1990s. Let the AEI be responsible for explaining to the College and the wider community why they hosted someone whose scholarship has been thoroughly discredited and who denies the basic human dignity of members of our community. Rather than lend legitimacy to this event, we respectfully request you stand up for a campus that is intellectually open and culturally diverse, but one that does not fall prey to the designs of external organizations who peddle partisan propaganda in the guise of “public scholarship.” Respectfully, Tara Affolter, Assistant Professor, Education Studies Holly Allen, Assistant Professor, American Studies Molly Anderson, Professor, Food Studies Dima Ayoub, Assistant Professor, Arabic Mez Baker-Medard, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies Jim Berg, Visiting Assistant Professor, English and American Literatures Sony Bolton, Postdoctoral Fellow in Spanish Susan Burch, Professor, American Studies Maggie Clinton, Assistant Professor, History Carolyn Craven, Visiting Assistant Professor, Economics Adam Dean, Assistant Professor, Political Science Laurie Essig, Associate Professor, Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies Florence Feiereisen, Associate Professor, German Irina Feldman, Assistant Professor, Spanish J Finley, Assistant Professor, American Studies Ellery Foutch, Assistant Professor, American Studies Juana Gamero de Coca, Associate Professor, Spanish Randall Ganiban, Professor, Classics Eliza Garrison, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture Gloria Gonzalez-Zenteno, Associate Professor, Spanish Roman Graf, Professor, German Ben Graves, Visiting Instructor, English and American Literatures William Hart, Associate Professor, History Rachael Joo, Assistant Professor, American Studies Antonia Losano, Professor, English and American Literatures Joyce Mao, Associate Professor, History Peter Matthews, Professor, Economics Bettina Matthias, Professor, German Tamar Mayer, Professor, Geography Jamie McCallum, Assistant Professor, Sociology-Anthropology Sujata Moorti, Professor, Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies Kevin Moss, Professor, Russian Linus Owens, Associate Professor, Sociology-Anthropology Nicholas Poppe, Assistant Professor, Spanish William Poulin-Deltour, Associate Professor, French Fernando Rocha, Associate Professor, Portuguese Daniel Rodrigues-Navas, Postdoctoral Fellow, Philosophy Marcos Rohena-Madrazo, Assistant Professor, Spanish Patricia Saldarriaga, Professor, Spanish Paula Schwartz, Professor, French Michael Sheridan, Associate Professor, Sociology-Anthropology Daniel Silva, Assistant Professor, Portuguese Usama Soltan, Associate Professor, Arabic John Spackman, Associate Professor, Philosophy Carly Thomsen, Assistant Professor, Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies Rebecca Tiger, Associate Professor, Sociology-Anthropology Jacob Tropp, Professor, History Ioana Uricaru, Assistant Professor, Film and Media Culture Edward Vazquez, Associate Professor, History of Art and Architecture Hector Vila, Assistant Professor, Writing Max Ward, Assistant Professor, History Marion Wells, Associate Professor, English and American Literatures Linda White, Associate Professor, Japanese Carrie Wiebe, Professor, Chinese Mark Williams, Professor, Political Science Catharine Wright, Senior Lecturer, Writing-GSFS Orian Zakai, Visiting Assistant Professor, Modern Hebrew Patricia Zupan, Professor, Italian Middlebury Faculty write in about Charles Murray’s 3/2 talk.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/03/letter-from-middlebury-faculty

Profile: Filmmaker & Professor David Miranda Hardy

(02/22/17 5:44pm)

The work and life of film professor David Miranda Hardy epitomizes the complex relationship between art and politics. He grew up as a refugee in Spain, part of a Chilean family that had a love for the arts. The fall of the Chilean dictatorship coincided with his return to the country and enrollment at the University of Chile, where he studied mathematics, physics and music, and trained as a sound engineer. “Education was in trouble in Chile; the public university had been decimated and in particular the arts. It was really hard to [decide what to study] and there was no formal film school, yet,” he said. “But [the University] was a great place to meet people, and many of the people that I have collaborated with over the years were connections that I made while I was an undergraduate.” The Chilean film industry began to take shape after Miranda Hardy graduated from school. At that time, he took an internship at a studio that had begun to make the transition from music to film. He helped finish and design the sound for two Chilean films, the first time a studio had done so in the country’s history. During the dictatorship, movies were primarily finished in Europe or the United States. This marked the beginning of his 23-year partnership with Marcos de Aguirre, the man running the studio, who Miranda Hardy has partnered with on a number of projects. “I came to be a professional at the time digital technologies were taking over. For the first time, places like Chile, far away from the big media markets, could afford to invest in digital facilities,” he said. “I started testing the first softwares. We did the first Dolby encoded films in Latin America. I mixed the third digital Dolby film in Spanish and I was a kid, I was really, really young.” After working as a freelancer on dozens of feature films across South America, Miranda Hardy decided to go back to school. He received a Fulbright Scholarship to attend Temple University in Philadelphia, where he earned his MFA and pursued his interest in teaching. “I always had this thirst for more intense intellectual engagement,” he said. “My experience as a student was not great. There was always this want to be part of larger institutions.” While at Temple, Miranda Hardy developed a desire to begin writing, directing and producing projects of his own. After graduating, he returned to Chile for two years and began to develop two television series and a feature film. Miranda Hardy, along with Aguirre, secured funding and received the green light from a network to write and produce one of the projects, a television series called “Bala Loca.” The protagonist of “Bala Loca” is Mauro Murillo, an investigative reporter who rose to prominence after challenging the Chilean dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The series takes place post-dictatorship in 2016, where Murillo, who finds himself in a wheelchair after an accident, attempts to rebuild his life and form his own digital news outlet. After one of his reporters is suspiciously killed in a robbery, Murillo and his news organization decide to investigate. The show explores a number of Chilean political and social issues, including the relationship between money and politics, health care, the legacy of authoritarianism, the role of the military, human rights, corruption and more. Miranda Hardy co-wrote the show in 2015 and spent much of 2016 in production. It premiered in July of last year. “Chile’s equivalent to the ‘mainstream media’ is incredibly homogeneous ideologically, it’s all right-wing. Even though we have had 25 years of center-left governments, they never coalesced into a journalistic project that could hold. But with new technologies and the Internet, some really interesting press came back," he said. "And our premise [for the show] is, what if, in discovering and unearthing the marriage between money and politics and levels of corruption in a democracy, a [new wave] journalist is killed.” Miranda Hardy began producing “Bala Loca” the same year he arrived at Middlebury. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gq1KpyuHU4M All faculty members are required to produce scholarly work, whether it is a book, a chapter of a book or a scholarly essay. For Miranda Hardy, who teaches screenwriting and production courses, his "research" is called “creative work,” and is comprised of the film projects creates or produces. According to Miranda Hardy, academia provides him with the structure and flexibility to be more selective in choosing the films he wants to work on. He believes that teaching and creating compliment one another. “I love teaching. I think it is very nutritious intellectually," he said. "I love seeing projects come to life and seeing young people figuring it out. I also hope I can ease some of that anxiety and lack of guidance that I had.” He recently worked as the sound designer for the 2016 film “Jackie” directed by Pablo Larraín and starring Natalie Portman. Miranda Hardy had worked with Larraín, a fellow Chilean, on films and television shows in the past, including the HBO series “Profugos.” The film was shot mostly in Paris and in Washington D.C., and the sound was finalized with Miranda Hardy’s company in Chile. “They wanted to work in our facility. There’s [only] a few facilities in Chile that are ready to work on a big project like this in coordination with other studios where you need to do ADR with some of the actors,” he said. The film was released to critical acclaim in the fall of last year, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9pW3B8Ycc4 Miranda Hardy is currently working on a few projects. “Bala Loca” will be released on Netflix with English subtitles in March of this year. And his production company, Filmosonido Chile, of which he is the head of the Contents Department, is currently in negotiations to produce a second season of the show. He is also working on a six-episode mini-series that is near the end of development. “It takes places in a small rural community outside Santiago in the time of the Agrarian Reform in Chile. It was an incredible period both politically and because of the human stories that are there,” he said. Miranda Hardy is the series’ showrunner and creator, and is currently in the process of securing funding to launch the project.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2017/02/prof-designs-sound-for-acclaimed-movie

Life Outside the College Bubble Explored in New Play

(12/09/16 2:06am)

It is not often that we, as college students, venture outside the college bubble. Sometimes it is easy to forget that not everyone is a teenager or a twenty-something, and that there are people living in Middlebury who are not students or teachers at the College. However, when we do find ourselves exploring the town and beyond, we are awakened and inspired by the experiences that those in the outer community have to share. Celia Watson ’17 brought the stories of elders in the Middlebury community to life in her senior independent work, “Old Enough to Know Better, Young Enough to Do It Again.” In this piece, Watson created an intriguing and stunning picture of senior life, as told by the elderly residents of Project Independence in Middlebury. Project Independence, a branch of Elderly Service in town, serves as a day center for elderly people who need supervision, and provides a wealth of services for seniors throughout Addison County. The play, which was written, devised and produced by Watson, was transcribed almost completely verbatim from interviews with members of Project Independence. It was performed on Dec. 2 and 3 at Project Independence and at the College on Dec. 4. There was a question and answer session after the performance, which gave the audience the opportunity to learn about the process that Watson and the actors went through to get the final product. The work featured actors Lucie Heerman ’19, Will Kelley ’19.5, Steven Medina ’17 and Gabrielle Owens ’17, as well as sound operator Alex Williamson ’17. “When I first began discussing this project with Theatre faculty, we talked about a number of different organizations in town that were centered around a specific social issue or population,” Watson said. “I am good friends with Jack DesBois ’15.5 who works full-time at Project Independence, and when I talked about my idea to do a verbatim piece, he was supportive and helped set up introductions with the staff there. I had heard and read about devised plays featuring the elderly population (often associated with ‘Reminiscence theatre’) and I thought this group would bring a variety of topics to explore. There is also something profound about theatrically exploring aging, as it is a process that happens to all of us and also isn’t frequently talked about in our culture.” According to Owens, who played Mary, Dorothy and Diane, sharing and relating the elders’ stories to a broader audience was one of the project’s goals. “Elders are too often forgotten and shoved aside, hidden away in nursing homes or care centers, in modern American society, while the stories and wisdom they have to share with us remain immensely valuable,” she stated. “I think what we were all working towards in this production was a greater understanding, both for ourselves and for our audience, of what it means to age — what is lost, but also what is gained.” The stories touched upon the lives and traumatic experiences of the interviewees. One story depicted the condition of Parkinson’s; another told of the death of a spouse; another, a first date at the drive-in movies. Since the interviews were recounted and acted verbatim, the actors worked with the unique oratory habits of each interviewee. This attested to the impressive acting chops of the performers, who used voices and physicality to retell the stories of the elders. “The process of doing a verbatim show is different because it was a new way of approaching my character,” said Medina, who played Pedro. “It felt as though I relied less on analyzing a text, and more on feeling what it is like to be a human, and because Pedro was such a great guy, what it means to be a wonderful person who has come such a long way.” The recordings from the interviews with the elders were essential in Medina’s portrayal of Pedro. “Being that Pedro had a stroke and spoke English as a second language, there were some noticeable differences in his speech pattern. Learning this would be hard if I did not have both the vocal recordings and written script. The vocal recording allowed me to understand what he actually said because I was able to listen and interpret his speech, which allowed me to ‘feel’ like Pedro.” “Working with verbatim text brings a lot of character, humanity and originality to dialogue that is often hard to convey through fictional speech,” affirmed Watson. “However it does pose many challenges, in that if you want to stay true to the person’s words, you perform them word for word, even if it flows less smoothly than typical theatre speech.” Throughout the night, the various stories recounted on the stage created lifelike portrayals of the people from the center. The stories told of heartbreak and loss, of mental and physical atrophy, of youth and aging. As a whole, the stories showed sides of the community that can be lost in the on-campus bubble, reminding the audience that there are people outside the College who have experiences to share. “I found that the elderly really appreciate one-on-one conversation and interest in their lives and stories,” Watson said. “Some of the most gratifying moments were actually having the interviews themselves, being off-campus for a bit and having coffee with them at the breakfast table.” According to the cast, the interviewees received the performance very well. “As a performer, I have rarely felt that I had such a strong and immediately evident impact on an audience as I did at Project Independence,” Owens said. “I saw several of the interviewees crying or on the verge of tears during the performance. Most notably for me personally, the real life version of ‘Diane,’ who was the character in the jean jacket, was sitting right in front of me while I delivered her monologue and she started crying about midway through. After I finished her monologue, she called out, ‘Thank you.’”

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2016/12/life-outside-the-college-bubble-explored-in-new-play

TEDxMidd Talks “Playing the Game”

(11/18/16 1:53am)

What is feminist glaciology? How should we talk about intersectionality? Can graffiti bring people together? Is there a solution to mass incarceration? These are just some of the many questions that were addressed at the TEDxMiddlebury event on Sunday, Nov. 13. The event, hosted in the Mahaney Center for the Arts (MCA), brought together seven live and two previously recorded speakers in three hour-long sessions. The speakers’ topics covered a range of ideas but all fit under the umbrella theme of “Playing the Game.” The theme encompassed the different ways in which we navigate and play “the game,” and to each speaker this meant something different. Some interpretations were abstract while some were literal, creating a fascinatingly diverse arrangement of talks. The conference was a function of TEDx, a branch of the TED conferences. TEDx offers independently organized events that amplify the sharing of “ideas worth spreading” in communities. The informative and entertaining TEDx talks, covering a wide range of subjects, allow speakers to communicate to the audience their novel ideas and passions in an enthralling way. The student-run TEDxMiddlebury board, a branch of the Center for Creativity, Innovation & Social Entrepreneurship (CCISE), was the brain behind the conference. The TEDxMiddlebury volunteers and board members worked extremely hard to choose the theme, contact potential speakers and organize the event. Their efforts were evident in the enormous success of the event. This year’s TEDxMiddlebury event was split into three sessions. Each speaker spoke for 18 minutes, and many used projected images to supplement their talks. The talks were followed by student-led discussions, as audience members commented and reflected on the speakers’ talks. The afternoon began with Kaamila Mohamed’s talk, entitled “Intersecting Identities and Space Making.” Mohamed referenced their identity as a black genderqueer Muslim to show how these identities do not need to exist in separate spheres. Instead, they drew upon intersectionality to find peace with themself, and promoted a powerful message about self-acceptance and love. Mohamed was followed by Sarah Finnie Robinson, a Breadloaf School of English alumnus. In her talk, “The Game of Our Lives,” Robinson referred to the election and other recent political and environmental contexts in order to destroy the idea that climate change is a belief and not a fact. She praised the College for its environmental efforts, but acknowledged that there is more that needs to be done. Reshma Saujani came next with her pre-recorded talk, “Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection.” Saujani is the Founder and CEO of the tech organization, Girls Who Code. In her discussion, Saujani criticized society for teaching girls to be perfect but failing to encourage female bravery and ambition. She cited this as a source of the deficit of girls in STEM careers, and encouraged a shift in the way we address girls and their work. After a 15-minute break we heard from Will Kasso, with his talk entitled “Colors.” Kasso, who grew up in the inner city of Trenton, New Jersey, used art as a way to escape the criminal activity of his neighborhood in his youth. Through graffiti, he not only found a community of artists, but also a profession he loved — he is now a professional visual artist. While on stage, Kasso did a live painting, and his talk was so well-received by the audience that it earned a standing ovation. Adam Foss’s pre-recorded talk, “A Prosecutor’s Vision for a Better Justice System” came next. Foss, a prosecutor in Boston, discussed the importance of keeping people out of jail. Offering real and educational solutions, he said, will end the self-fulfilling prophecy of returning to jail over and over again throughout one’s life and will break individuals out of the prison system and propel them into more productive lifestyles. Next came speaker Mattie Brice, with “Using Play for Everyday Activism.” Brice discussed using video games for change and how she has engineered video games to help her friends understand her battles with depression. In this way, video games have been an important avenue of social action for her. The conference resumed after the second break with Gabbie Santos ’17. Santos is an International Politics and Economics (IPE) major at the College. He competed for a spot at the conference against many other students and told himself that if he won he would come out to his parents — hence the title of his talk, “Go Big and Call Home.” Santos spoke of his experiences as a transgender male and critiqued the gender binary and heteronormativity that are embedded in society. Santos received a standing ovation from his peers. “I like to imagine a block,” said Santos, “with a spectrum on it that we cut into two parts, then four, then eight and we keep cutting and cutting and cutting until the parts are so small, the divisions so thin, that when we take a step back, we can no longer tell that there any divisions at all. It begins to look like one whole block again, a fluid spectrum.” Next, Marco Mezzavilla, a research fellow in engineering at the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering gave a talk entitled, “Wireless, Faster, Closer: 5G and Beyond.” He discussed the implications of up-and-coming 5G technology and travelled through the different generations of cell phones and Internet access. He tied these ideas to the importance of connecting worlds and how incredible it is that we can send messages across oceans “in a blink of an eye.” Taking a different interpretation of the same theme was M. Jackson, with “Glacier, Gender, and Science: We Need More Stories of Ice.” Jackson described her experiences as a feminist glaciologist and the extensive criticism she has received towards her unique career. She discussed the necessity of having both female and male glaciologists in order to produce a well-rounded knowledge of the study. She proceeded to take this thought beyond glaciology and said it represents a greater indication of how we treat women in science and beyond. Jackson’s talk about feminist glaciology resonated strongly with one student in particular, Georgia Grace Edwards ’18. “I have always been obsessed with TED Talks,” said Edwards. “But I never expected to feel such a deep, meaningful level of connection like that which I experienced during M’s talk.” “This past summer,” continued Edwards, “I worked for a helicopter company as a glacier guide on the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska, and I experienced so many of the gendered assertions that M voiced. However, in the moment, I didn’t know how to make sense of them and I didn’t understand what they meant in terms of a bigger picture.” Jackson’s talk helped Edwards see the sexism she faced over the summer through a new lens and to realize the stigma surrounding female glacier guides. “All my male co-workers had these big, scruffy beards and just looked like your typical rugged, Alaskan mountain men,” Edwards reflected. “And I think for tourists, that was the idea and the expectation they had in mind when they decided to come to Alaska. So no matter how many times I gave a more informative or energizing or funny tour, no matter how many times I gave my own gloves up to tourists or went the extra mile for them in any way (which the guys never did), I was never going to measure up to the masculine ideal that parallels the ‘man conquers glacier’ narrative.” “And sure enough,” Edwards continued, “while I did make more in tips than any other female glacier guide, I did not even come close to that of my male counterparts. To have seemingly small observations like this one validated at the intersection of science and gender studies by a professional in the field of ‘feminist glaciology’ — which I had no idea even existed — was both liberating and relieving. I am incredibly grateful to Middlebury and to the TEDx team for bringing this speaker to campus, and for inspiring what may potentially become a new career goal for me.” As Edwards’s revelation demonstrates, these talks offered unique connections between the speakers and the audience. “TED Talks are an expression of something that you’re really into and love,” said Brice. “While I’ve always had these ideas in my head, I really got to communicate them to others, which forced me to shrink them down and make them concise and strong and factual.” Santos added, “Speaking at TEDxMiddlebury was a very powerful experience, and I am very grateful for the opportunity. I came back from my year abroad in France, and I felt so ready and excited to share my most authentic self with our college community, especially as it is my senior year and days feel numbered. In important ways, my talk meant more to me than just any speech or any performance.” The event’s nine individual talks were conducive to a deeply personal offering and receiving of ideas. The vulnerability of the speakers created intimacy in the theater, which made the event all the more meaningful. From climate change to video games to transexuality, the audience experienced a host of topics and was left to ruminate on a wide and range of ideas.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2016/11/tedxmidd-talks-playing-the-game

Interview with Melian Radu '13

(11/11/16 12:50am)

Among the attendees of the first ever Feminist Alumnx Retreat this weekend was Melian Radu ’13, a former English and American Literatures major with a focus in Creative Writing and a Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies and Sociology minor. A recent MFA graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Radu has been featured in Vetch, the first literary journal devoted to poetry by transgender writers. The mission statement of Vetch is to “help bring into the world trans poetry that does not feel the need to translate itself for a cis audience.” On Friday, Nov. 4, Radu performed in an intimate poetry reading, which included such works as “Premortuary School,” “How Much Google Will You Do, Gull?” and “The Part of the Penal Code Which Applied to Drag Queens Was Section 240.35, Subsection 4.” Her work offers commentary on technology, intimacy and surveillance. She is currently working on her debut manuscript at her new home in L.A. The Middlebury Campus had the opportunity to speak with Radu on her experiences at the College, the inspiration behind her poetry and her recent publication in Vetch. How did you start writing poetry? I was interested in writing as long as I could remember, but I figured I could do novels. I wanted to write fantasy novels – I still want to write fantasy novels – but my junior year of high school, I was like, “I want to improve the descriptive writing in my fiction. All the imagery is very bland, and poetry is about cool images, so I’ll write some poems to practice.” And from there I tried poetry and never went back. The most serious-ish poem I can remember writing that year was inspired by the movie The Brave One with Jodi Foster, which at the time I didn’t have much of a political-ish, theoretical sense of. But now that I look back, it speaks deeper. It’s a vigilante justice sort of movie, where her husband’s long-term partner is mugged and the system fails to do anything about it, so she sort of takes it into her own hands. It’s sort of this somewhat feminist-y, action-y, dark, intense thriller. So I felt compelled, I guess, to write a poem about that and explore sort of what her motivations were. What did you study at Middlebury? I was an English and American Literatures major with a Creative Writing focus. It’s a very unofficial-ish sort of thing, but it does mean you take some extra creative writing classes and you get to do a creative writing thesis instead of a big long paper – which is why I picked the major, really, initially. It was still a very new thing when I got to Middlebury. My main intellectual pursuits were in my minors, which were Gender Studies and Sociology. How did those two fields of academia intersect with your writing? The more I got into critical theory and whatnot, the more it kind of came into my poetry. And my undergraduate thesis was about true incidents, mostly, of people attacking or in some way damaging works of art – even though I do have rather a suspicion of poetry. I’ve seen lots of poetry that wants to be political and therefore ends up not being very interesting or poetic. That’s not the case in a broader sense. I mean, Claudia Rankine is part of the most famous at the moment. You know, incredible books she’s put out in the past few years that just electrified people in the sense of what people can and should be doing in terms of our larger culture and society. But I’ve also seen the other side, where it’s just very hand-fisted, schlocky and not interesting. So I want to avoid that. But I am, of course, drawn to these concerns. So yeah, that thesis, whenever I mention it to people, I guess the contrast was pretty immediate. People were like, “Oh my gosh, someone would blow up the statue or they would splash acid on this famous painting or punch a hole in a Monet? Like, that’s disgusting, how horrible. That’s worse than, like, beating somebody up. They should be in prison for that.” That, to me, is horrifying. So I guess the concern at the center of it was, of course I like art. I love these classic works. But at the same time, I also, in the end, place a lot of value, more value, I can come right out and say it, on human life. So when I see people being actually in prison for long periods of time or whatnot for these things, it immediately unsettles me. I was interested in exploring that sort of contradiction in those poems. Like, different ways of looking at these incidents. Do you see your poetry as a form of activism? I don’t know how much of it is known at Middlebury anymore, but I certainly did some things when I was here. I mean, all-gender housing, all-gender restrooms, whatnot. I believe deeply in that kind of work, and I sort of believe deeply in the artistic work that I do. So somehow there’s definitely the overlaps to it, and I’m cool with those. But also for me, I draw some line in the sense of, I want to write poetry that’s interesting and effecting change or affecting a person. But I do have a distrust of people who want to see their poetry as the first and foremost activist thing they do. I mean, I see ways in which it’s worked, and I guess it relates to my own work a lot, but there was a particular discussion a few years ago of drone poetics. Like, we have this dislike of this uprising drone usage, drone warfare, so we’re gonna write these poems in the sense of, we’re gonna look back at the state, we’re gonna surveil them. Our poems will be like little drones watching over the government or something. I don’t know, you can hear my skepticism – like, are these poems gonna be read to people in the government? Are they gonna suddenly be like, “President Obama’s gonna realize what terrible thing drones are and stop using them to bomb small children”? I doubt it. The people who write these poems probably do other things as well, but I guess I would be skeptical of anyone who thought that was the first and foremost way we’re gonna have impact. As one tool in a toolbox, great, I guess that’s the bottom line of it. But I like concrete action for sure. I like very much that I was able to write poems that said interesting, cool things while I was at Middlebury, and I also did other things that would have concrete effects. Your work will be featured in the newest issue of Vetch. Can you speak more on nature of this publication? It’s the first publication primarily of trans-authored poetry, at least on an ongoing basis. [The editors] are very much interested in the idea of what is it like to write poetry from a trans perspective. Every issue seems to have a great theme they bring up to anyone who’s submitting, with a broader concern that’s also rooted in a trans experience. This new one that’s coming out, they gave us “ekphrasis” – literal Greek – which is looking at something, describing something, in the oldest classical sense. The perfect ekphrasis sense is, you look at a statue, describe it in words, and then someone who saw those words would have the exact same experience as the person who looked at the statue. Now, that perfect description is kind of tough to pull off, but it’s the idea of work that responds to something that you see. A lot of my own thesis was ekphrasis in terms of reacting to the work as I was seeing it, to a photo that was being damaged, or reacting to the site of somebody damaging it. So that was the theme of the issue, but they made it like, “We think transness is often involving rewriting one's experience in a certain sense. How can you rewrite as you also reinterpret something you see visually?” What inspires your poetry? What I do like about Vetch in their mission is a way to engage a trans identity in a way that is not totalizing. It’s not all about that. It is nice to be able to expand outward. Like, yes, we’re trans, we’re writing from that experience, but also there’s a lot more than that going on. It’s very rare for me to write a poem anymore that is about my gender dysphoria or something, but certainly it’s in there. I mean, I do write a lot about sex and nudes and whatnot. So it’s really shot through with a lot of queer sexuality. But technology is really the driving force. What is one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring poet? This may be overly prescriptive, but I know it worked well for me and I’ve given it to a lot of people: to very aggressively pursue change or avoid sameness in their writing. Very much my Middlebury writing career was gradually trying a new thing in every poem. If the last two poems were first person, this one's gonna be third person. I haven’t written a formal one in a while, so I'm gonna do a villanelle [a 19-line poem with two repeating rhymes and two refrains]. This one’s from my own perspective about my life, but now I'm gonna do a persona poem from somebody else's poem. Avoid getting caught up in a “this is my style” if you want to develop a voice. That’s a concern that people have and I very much had at one point – and did I really develop a voice? I don’t know. I guess people say, “That sounds like you, that’s unique, so that’s a voice” – but what is, anyway? What would you say to anyone interested in your work? That they should feel free to jump at the chance to critique it. ’Cause it is very much in constant flux, and I am always more than ready to have somebody say, like, “No. Not working. On any number of levels.” Which can be creative or, like, “No, I think the way that you engage with surveillance is overly informed by this particular idea you have that is inaccurate. ’Cause there are other aspects to how technology shapes people’s lives in ways you’re not considering.” Because poetry is very much informed by one’s perspective and mine has those limitations. I’m always interested in exploring and plugging holes in, but also expanding in different ways. PEER REVIEW Your dog dies and you give him to Science. You do this with all your things. On a hook on the wall of the study glints Journal of Microbiotics: Science saw fat content in the rate your ice cream melted. His study has reduced obesity and was widely hailed in Europe. Winter was hard, with Science taking up the whole couch. Poor St. Nicholas— your parakeet whose body you gave to Science who gave it back: Husk is husk, he said. There is nothing to learn from this. When the ice thaws you think you will sink Nick to Belize. Science is getting a PhD in psychoanalysis and asks: Who are the men in your life? What else will you give me? I am hungry and could eat nine cigars. Your dog has died but his stem cells cure your SAD. Science will save you yet.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2016/11/interview-with-melian-radu-13

Ward Prize Honors First-Year Writing

(10/14/16 12:27am)

On Friday, Oct. 7, the 39th presentation of the Paul Ward ’25 Memorial Prize acknowledged student members of the Class of 2019 who have produced outstanding essays for their first-year writing classes. Over half of the 50 nominated students and their families gathered in the Twilight Auditorium in the afternoon for the hour-long celebration hosted by Mary Ellen Bertolini, Director of the Writing Center. The Paul W. Ward ’25 Memorial Prize in Writing was established by Paul Ward’s widow, Dorothy Cate Ward ’28 in 1978. For 38 years, the competition has honored excellent writings by students in their first year at Middlebury College across all academic divisions. As a journalist and diplomatic reporter, Paul Ward valued “precise and exact usage of words, exact meanings, phrases expressed lucidly and gracefully,” as put by Mrs. Ward. Students’ essays are nominated by faculty annually and evaluated by an interdisciplinary panel of judges. “We are impressed this year, that among the nominees and winners are students for whom English is just one of the many languages they speak,” Bertolini said in her welcome speech. “And we are impressed at the range of interest that your writing represents.” Among the nominees’ work were personal narratives, critical arguments, creative works and research papers from various departments. The honorable mention awards went to Gemma Laurence ’19.5 for “The Morality of Happiness: A Comparison of Aristotelian and Kantian Ethics,” Sarah Rittgers ’19 for “Nationalism and the Collapse of the Soviet Union,” Leo Stevenson ’19.5 for “Natural Environments and Human Cognition” and Kevin Zhang ’19.5 for “Natural Selection for E. coli Resistant to Triclosan and its Effect on Developing Cross Resistance to Therapeutic Antibiotics.” A mere glimpse of the titles of their work gives a sense of how diverse the topics are. Nominating faculty members presented the certificates, and spoke of the students’ work, highlighting how across different areas of academic study, the awarded essays showed the students’ excellent writing skills of formulating effective and lucid communication. During the presentations of the two runner-up awards and the first-place award, the audience had the chance to listen to the student recipients read excerpts from their winning essays. Each recipients of the runner-up prize received $250 . Abbie Hinchman ’19 was awarded the runner-up prize for her paper “The Geography of Occupation: Examining the Use of Location in Out of It,” an essay for her first-year seminar on post-colonial literature. Sarah Yang ’19.5 won the other runner-up prize for her essay “Space Control in the Soviet Union.” The paper fulfilled the task of applying a Marxist concept to a concrete historical example, assigned by Assistant Professor of Spanish Irina Feldman in her seminar Introduction to Marxism. “I barely corrected it,” said Feldman afterwards, commenting on the Yang’s use of precise and elegant language. The first-place prize, along with a $500 award, was presented to Caroline Snell ’19, for her essay “Mastery at Any Cost: The Dominance and Damning of Standard Oil”, which she wrote for her first-year seminar Power and Petroleum in Asia taught by Assistant Professor of History Maggie Clinton. Notably, the winning essay was Snell’s very first paper for that class, which showed her talents in writing and her ability to follow guidelines even before coming to college. According to Professor Clinton, the paper topic was not easy, as it asked students to analyze how the rise of kerosene changed the 19th century, drawing from three challenging books. “Caroline more than rose to the occasion,” Clinton said, adding that the paper “meticulously captures the nuances of historical change.” Professor Clinton was optimistic that Snell’s talents will bring her more success. “If she could write beautifully about kerosene, she could write beautifully about anything,” she said. Each year, the nominees for the Ward Prize are invited by the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research to train as peer writing tutors. “We hope you talented writers of the Class of 2019 will share your gifts with incoming classes,” Bertolini said. Indeed, the students nominated did gain valuable insights through producing these outstanding essays. For Zhang, recipient of honorable mention prize, taking the time to revise was essential. “Even though it takes time, it is not until I start editing my work when my ideas and arguments truly become a lot more clear and concise,” Zhang said. As a couple nominating professors mentioned how the prize recipients were active and considerate contributors to class discussion, talking about ideas seems to be equally important. Shan Zeng ’19, one of the nominees, said that speaking to professors and students about her essay was especially helpful. “When you are forced to present an idea to someone else, you have to clarify it so that other people understand,” Zeng said. “It’s a very effective way to organize the complicated information.” On the Friday just before this year’s Fall Family Weekend, many of the award nominees’ families were there to celebrate “some of the best 18- and 19-year-old writers in the country,” as Bertolini put it. She especially expressed gratitude to the family members, stating, “They were there on the spot to recognize and encourage your very first words from the time you were toddlers, posting your accomplishments on Facebook and refrigerator doors.” On behalf of the faculty, Bertolini also emphasized the College’s vision of writing in a liberal arts education. “It is our commitment to encourage you to use writing as part of your own life-long learning process, and thus to make a difference in the world,” she said.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2016/10/ward-prize-honors-first-year-writing

Towards a More Just Opinions Section

(09/16/16 2:00am)

As Middlebury’s Homecoming weekend approaches, one can feel a burgeoning sense of school pride. A number of factors might form that feeling – excitement about seeing graduated classmates, a sense of spirit from cheering on the football team as a crowd, or perhaps just the fervor around ubiquitous free cider donuts – but the sense of a “Middlebury” identity becomes palpable during Homecoming. The sentimentality surrounding this weekend therefore causes us to stop and ask ourselves – what is “Middlebury” and how can Middlebury best come together? Over the past year, the College has participated in the national dialogue surrounding inclusivity and diversity. At times, this dialogue has driven wedges between members of our community. Some students have felt victimized and excluded from the College because of their identities, and shame has been cast on insensitive majority groups who perpetuate this dynamic. At the Campus, we will not try to propose a fix-all solution to this problem because the issue is too multi-faceted and out of our purview. However, our editorial board would like to make a difference in those ways that we can. With Homecoming in the background, we think one way we can make a difference is by endorsing unification at Middlebury and inclusivity in the College’s traditions. To unify Middlebury, we must identify what makes it so great. Despite the emphasis on Middlebury’s Homecoming football game, it seems evident that our College is not a big sports school and is instead built upon a more substantial foundation. While our bleachers are by no means empty at sports games, the College seems to breed fans for more than just its athletics. Many pride the school on its academics, which challenge students and simultaneously encourage a liberal arts exploration of subjects. Students appreciate Middlebury’s location in between the Adirondack Mountains and the Green Mountains, and the chance to get outdoors that such a location offers. Some point to Middlebury’s larger network with the Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Language Schools and the Bread Loaf School of English as being emblematic of Middlebury’s greatness. There are many aspects of Middlebury that make it stand out, but we as an editorial board want to make sure that traditions surrounding the College’s identity are not leaving anyone out. The recent conversations about inclusivity and diversity are extremely relevant to our College. Middlebury has a history of exclusivity, dating back to the days when classrooms sat only white, male students. Those original “Middkids” set the tone for traditions to come. We still find ourselves partaking in quintessential privileged New England culture, perhaps best showcased by our excitement around events like the Homecoming men’s football game and the ski races at Winter Carnival. While we do not wish to condemn these traditions, as they compose part of Middlebury’s historical identity, we would like to challenge ourselves to expand Middlebury’s current and future identity. It is time to give representation in the form of traditions to a larger diversity of students. Currently, our school’s privileged New England culture proves the point that many on campus are trying to make: that Middlebury does not always include every student. How can a female international student relate to men’s football, a sport that does not exist for women in her country? How can a student whose family did not choose to pay for expensive ski vacations to Vail or Aspen jump into the culture around skiing? Without eliminating these New England traditions, Middlebury must introduce new, more inclusive traditions. [As a school with so much to offer – strong academics, beautiful natural surroundings, a larger institutional network and more – we should have no trouble fostering new traditions at Middlebury. Already, there are efforts in place to create more accessible events. The Anderson Freeman Resource Center has worked to introduce historically marginalized students to activities that are integral to Middlebury’s identity, but which were previously associated with a more privileged elite. The Center has sponsored partnerships with organizations like the Middlebury Mountain Club, introducing students with no prior exposure to activities like canoeing, hiking and skiing to such a lifestyle.] *this paragraph needs refinement... Last Friday, President Patton hosted an all-school barbeque on Battell Beach. It allowed the student body to come together outside on our beautiful campus and get to know fellow students, faculty and staff we otherwise would not have known. It was a great example of the kind of tradition the Campus would like to see moving forward. It included all students and revolved around today’s student body, not the student body of a Middlebury past. All students, no matter where they came from, what economic background they were raised in or what they were interested in could coalesce around a picnic on the lawn. This sort of tradition – one that sets everyone on an equal playing field – is a start for new traditions. Having contemporary, representative traditions is therefore one of the best ways to bring Middlebury together and move Middlebury forward. It is a start to addressing larger grievances by members of our community and can begin as soon as this weekend. So let us enjoy Homecoming, but let us also keep in mind that, as great as Middlebury is, there is still room for improvement and increased unification. The editorial represents the official opinion of the editorial board of The Middlebury Campus.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2016/09/towards-a-more-just-opinions-section

SensusAccess App Makes Documents More Accessible

(03/23/16 3:19pm)

This Monday, Mar. 21 marked the launch of SensusAccess, an application that allows Middlebury users to automatically convert documents into a variety of accessible formats. Now free to all students, faculty and staff members at both the College and the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, the web-based service supports learning, teaching and research in innovative ways. Anyone with a working College or MIIS e-mail account has unlimited, free access to the service. Users have the option to convert a wide array of formats (including Word and PDF) into an mp3, e-book, Braille document or DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) or an audio book, among other selections. The complete list of supported file types includes .DOC, .DOCX, .PDF, .PPT, .PPTX, .TXT, .XML, .HTML, .HTM, .RTF, .EPUB, .MOBI, .TIFF, .TIF, .GIF, .JPG, .JPEG, .BMP, .PCX, .DCX, .J2K, .JP2, .JPX, .DJV and .ASC. In a straightforward, user-friendly process, individuals can either upload the file, enter the URL or type the text of the document they wish to convert. Next, they select the output format, specify options and enter their e-mail address. Depending on the size and complexity of the file type, users will receive the results in their inbox within a few minutes to a few hours. SensusAccess is capable of transforming a photocopy or a photograph of text into a format that can be edited in Word or read aloud by high-quality voice software. The audio conversion feature of this self-service supports a wide variety of languages, including Arabic, Bulgarian, British and American English, Danish, Dutch, German, Greenlandic, French, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovenian and Castilian and Latin American Spanish. There are limits to the application, however: SensusAccess cannot convert audio files into written texts; it also does not translate from one language to another. The company is currently working on these issues. In an e-mail sent out to the entire Middlebury community on Monday morning, Director of Academic Technology Bill Koulopoulos emphasized the everyday utility of SensusAccess. “Different formats create greater opportunities to learn and to engage,” he wrote. “For example, when you’re traveling, taking a walk or working in a dimly lit space, an audio version of an article might be more accessible than a print version.” Based in Denmark and powered by the award-winning RoboBraille service, SensusAccess markets itself as “a self-service solution for print-impaired students, faculty and alumni at universities and colleges.” The movement to bring its services to the Middlebury community stems from the collaborative efforts of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Research (CTLR), the Academic Technology Group and the Advisory Group on Disability, Access and Inclusion (AGDAI). AGDAI was formed a few months ago as part of President of the College Laurie L. Patton’s vision for a more inclusive and accessible Middlebury. In Patton’s inaugural address last fall, she stated that “diversity is an everyday ethic to be cultivated, made richer and more vibrant.” By supporting a wide range of learning contexts, SensusAccess is a step in this direction. As Susan Burch, AGDAI member and Associate Professor of American Studies, explained, “Each source format has inherent assets and limits. Flexibility is key. For certain situations, a Word document format may work best for an individual, but in a different context an audio file may be more accessible. Having different source formats readily available enables support for our diverse learning community.” To learn more, visit go/sensusaccess.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2016/03/sensusaccess-app-makes-documents-more-accessible

Reflections on Seeing

(03/10/16 4:27am)

In 2007, Middlebury College’s Commencement speaker was former President Bill Clinton. If you weren’t here then, it is probably still possible for you to imagine the attention that was garnered by his presence on campus. We dealt with increased security, the promise of an audience that extended well beyond family and well-wishers, and how to keep the day focused on our graduates. It was busy, bordering on chaotic. Almost nine years later, though, I don’t actually remember the logistics or the specific headaches. I remember a single anecdote distilled into a single phrase: “I see you.” Here’s the relevant excerpt from President Clinton’s speech:

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2016/03/reflections-on-seeing

Director of ACLU Steps Down in Vermont

(03/10/16 4:02am)

Last Monday, Allen Gilbert announced that he is leaving his position as the Executive Director of the Vermont Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), after holding this title for 12 years. Gilbert has not decided when his last day will be, but has clarified that he will maintain his position until the summer while a replacement is being found. It is expected that this replacement process will take about three to four months. The search for Gilbert’s successor has commenced and will span the nation with efforts facilitated by Board Chair James Morse. “It’s been a great run,” Gilbert said in an interview with VTdigger. “12 years is a long time. It’s a full-throttle job and I just need to slow down.” Gilbert also ensured that he does not plan to quit his work all together, but emphasized the desire to be at a place where he can take care of his health as well. Indeed, Gilbert claims to have a list of about five public policy projects that he will give attention to despite the fact that he is leaving his position. “I don’t see myself stopping from doing some form of gainful work. I’ve got a long list of things I still want to do,” Gilbert assured the Burlington Free Press in an interview. The longtime president clearly was not lacking in things to do during his 12 year term with the ACLU. Before leading Vermont’s ACLU, Gilbert held a job as a reporter for the Rutland Herald, worked as an English teacher in Germany and served as a partner in a public policy and research communications firm. As a Worcester resident, Gilbert assumed the position of executive director when Vermont’s chapter of the ACLU only had three staff members. By the end of Gilbert’s term, the chapter was composed of five staff members. One major implementation of Gilbert’s was the addition of ACLU Vermont’s first staff attorney. “The growth in staff and the strategic location [of the group’s offices] are symbolic of Allen’s successful efforts to expand the ACLU’s work and visibility,” praised Board Chair James Morse in an interview with VTdigger. Morse’s second element of praise refers to Gilbert’s decision to relocate the Vermont ACLU’s offices from the Vermont College of Fine Arts on East State Street in Montpelier to Elm Street. The goal and successful effect of this relocation of offices was for the members of the ACLU chapter to place themselves closer to the Vermont Statehouse, where they hoped to inspire and fight for concrete changes. In fact, the executive director himself has been described as being a frequent presence at the Statehouse where he has shown no fear for engaging in heated debate with law enforcement members. Gilbert further expressed his passion for his job to VTdigger as he claimed to enjoy that he “never knew what was coming down the pike” as executive director of the Vermont ACLU. After announcing his decision to step down from the head position, Gilbert revealed two of his proudest moments and accomplishments in his work in the ACLU. The first major accomplishment that he cited was his involvement in the Guiles v. Marineau case in 2006. This was a freedom of speech case in which a middle schooler’s right to political speech was contested. The ACLU ultimately emerged victorious with this case in the circuit court. The second major accomplishment that Gilbert cited was a discrimination lawsuit that the ACLU worked to use to counter the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville. This case emerged in 2012 when the Wildflower Inn refused to host a wedding reception for a lesbian couple. This case was a success for the ACLU and for Gilbert because the inn settled and agreed to pay the women a civil penalty for their actions. According to VTdigger, Gilbert expressed that “a civil liberty is never completely and permanently won,” and that he has been honored to have been given the opportunity to play a role in fighting to protect them in his role as the leader of Vermont’s American Civil Liberties Union for all these years.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2016/03/director-of-aclu-steps-down-in-vermont

Artist BØRNS Headlining Spring Concert

(03/10/16 12:37am)

On Saturday, Feb. 27, the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) revealed BØRNS as the headliner for this year’s spring concert. The announcement was made during the Winter Carnival Ball. The process of choosing and booking BØRNS for the concert began in the fall amidst speculation of who would be picked to follow last year’s artist, T-Pain. “We’re really excited to bring BØRNS to campus this year,” Concerts Committee member Sara Hodgkins ’17.5 said. “The very weekend after he performs at [the College], BØRNS will travel to California to perform at Coachella, one of the most prominent music festivals in the world.” Contrary to what many fans expect from the name BØRNS, Garret Borns is not of Scandinavian decent, but instead was born and raised in Grand Haven, Mich. “I just did it because it looks cool. It also makes it easier to find “BØRNS” via search engines and hashtags,” he revealed during an interview with InStyle in October. Finding distinction in the mob of musicians trying to make a name for themselves can be a challenge, but the decisions Borns makes seem to be working. Borns trained in magic as a child, but has since moved from small town magic tricks to headlining his own international tour. The rock-star life took the 24-year-old first to New York, and then Los Angeles as he searched for an opening to make the music he wanted to. That opening came when he met Tommy English. English co-produced BØRNS 2014 EP Candy, which featured “Electric Love,” the single that made people take notice of this newcomer. BØRNS followed up the EP with his full-length album, Dopamine, which was released in October of last year. “The Michigan singer looks and sounds like he’s stepped out of Velvet Goldmine, high-fived Lana Del Rey, added an unnecessary accent to his surname and gone into the studio with the sole purpose of making girls in crochet shorts feel like they’re having the time of their lives but also a little sad at the same time,” Kate Hutchinson wrote in her review of the album for the Guardian. With the prevailing positive response to Dopamine, BØRNS is poised to become a bonafide star. The process of bringing any act to campus is a challenging one. The undertaking of booking and arranging for BØRNS to play began in September on the six-person Concerts Committee. “Our Committee has a role in what they think their friends and the student body wants to see,” says Concerts Committee Co-Chair Izzy Kannegieser ’17. The Committee combines their opinions wih direct input from the student body at large. “This year we did a survey that a lot of people filled out,” says Katherine Brown ’18, the second Concerts Committee Co-Chair. “The survey results came back and the student body was in favor of [an] Indie/Alt Pop band.” Once all of this information was compiled and reviewed, the Committee assembled a list of artists and suggestions on more general aspects such as genre, and sent it to a booking agency based out of Boston that assisted them in honing in on the most fitting performance. This process is more complex than it may initially seem. An array of constraints must be taken into account when narrowing down a list of possible performers. One of those constraints is cost. “We have a budget,” says Brown, “we’ll send [them] a name and [they’ll] tell us ‘Okay, you guys can never afford that. Here’s what you can.’” In addition to cost, Middlebury’s location plays a distinct role in dictating who can play the show. Only bands that are touring in the area around the time of the concert are feasible. “Often we’ll have artists that we really like, and we reach out to them and want to book them, and they would love to come but they’re touring on the West Coast over those dates,” says Brown. “If you’re in Boston Middlebury’s not so far, but if you’re really anywhere else it’s not an easy one-stop flight.” When BØRNS was settled on as the act, the logistics of securing the space for the show became the next hurdle. “People might think ... ‘Oh, of course Kenyon will be available this weekend at this time,’ but actually it’s a long process,” says Kannegieser. When the space is secured, the committee must book a crew to come in and take care of the physical preparation of the stage and sound. This show will be handled by Atomic Professional Audio, a local business based out of North Clarendon, Vt. Nonetheless, the set-up is a hands-on experience for the Co-Chairs as well. “The day of the concert we’re there at 8 a.m. getting the stage set up. We’re actually moving things off of the truck and getting things set up, and after the concert we’re there making sure it all gets taken down,” says Kannegieser. Even with the logistics of the act confirmed, a concert is nothing without an audience, so marketing is essential. The Co-Chairs describe a balancing act of deciding on ticket prices and sale times with the Box Office. MCAB does not make a profit off of the show, but whatever revenue is brought in is used to fund the Midd Mayhem show that happens later in the year. Generating excitement for the show is key to it being a success both financially and socially as an enjoyable experience for the concert-goers. They focus on spreading details such as the best time to arrive and the opening act, which often gets lost in the announcement of the headliner. This year, local Burlington band Madaila, who have toured with the Flaming Lips and played with Grace Potter, will open for BØRNS. “They are Burlington’s hottest band for sure,” says Kannegieser. “Our job is to bring a show to campus that every single person is going to find something exciting about, whether it’s just that it’s spring and it’s an event, or that they love the artist, we want to put on an event that everyone will enjoy,” says Brown. Tickets for the April 9 show will go on sale for students on March 20. They are $8 if pre-ordered at the Box Office, and if not sold out, they will be available for $15 at the door.

https://www.middleburycampus.com/article/2016/03/artist-borns-headlining-spring-concert